pTiai 


President. 


The  American  and  Mexican 


Pacific  Railway 


'Me 


Oy 


OR 


TRANSCONTINENTAL  SHORT  LINE. 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  17  DIAGRAMS  AND  MAPS. 


AUTHOR  OF  THE  SILVER  COUNTRY;  OR,  GREAT  SOUTHWEST;”  AND  ‘  THE  TEHUANTEPEC 
INTEROCEAN  RAILROAD.” 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

GIBSON  BROTHERS,  PRINTERS. 
1883. 


AMERICAN  OFFICERS  AND  DIRECTORS. 


Officers : 

,wiLljam  WINDOM . . . 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT,  Jr . . . 

JOHN  H.  RICE . 

WILIAM  K.  ROGERS . 

Albert  k.  owen . 

FREDERICK  E.  GOODRICH . 


. President. 

. . . . . . Vice-President. 

. Treasurer. 

. Attorney. 

. Engineer. 

Clerk  of  Corporation. 


Directors  : 


WILLIAM  WINDOM,  Minn. 

CHARLES  M.  LORING,  Minn. 
ULYSSES  S.  GRANT,  Jr.,  N.  Y. 
ELISHA  A.  BUCK,  N.  Y. 

JOHN  H.  RICE,  D.  C. 

ALBERT  K.  OWEN,  Pa. 

WILLIAM  K.  ROGERS,  O. 
ALEXANDER  R.  SHEPHERD,  D.  C. 

Executive 

WILLIAM  WINDOM, 

FREDERICK  O.  PRINCE, 

JOHN  H.  RICE, 

ELISHA  A.  BUCK, 


FREDERICK  0.  PRINCE,  Mass. 
BENJAMIN  F.  BUTLER,  Mass. 
GEO.  W.  SIMMONS,  Mass. 
ERNEST  W.  CUSHING,  Mass. 
BENJAMIN  R.  CARMAN,  Pa. 
DAVID  L.  YULEE,  Fla. 

JOSEPH  E.  BROWN,  Ga. 

Committee  : 

WM.  K.  ROGERS, 

DAVID  L.  YULEE, 

GEO.  W.  SIMMONS, 

CHARLES  M.  LORING. 


MEXICAN  OFFICERS  AND  DIRECTORS. 


M.  ROMERO  RUBIO,  Attorney  and  Business  Agent . Mexico  City. 

EDUARDO  S.  HERRERA,  Secretary . Mexico  City. 

CARLOS  J.  MORENO,  Government  Engineer . Mexico  City. 

IGNACIO  POMBO,  Director . Mexico  City. 

RAMON  FERNANDEZ,  Director . Mexico  City. 

FRANCISCO  M.  DE  PRIDA,  Director . Mexico  City. 

JORGE  HAMMEKEN  Y  MEXIA,  Government  Director . Mexico  City. 

FRANCISCO  BULNES,  Government  Director . Mexico  City. 


Offices  oi\  the  Company:  1509  H  Street,  Washington,  D.  C. 


PREFACE. 


rj^HE  object  of  the  following  facts  and  figures  is  to  present  to  capitalists 
and  the  public  the  superior  merits  of  a  new  Pacific  Railway.  Its 
present  corporate  name  is  “  The  Texas,  Topolobampo,  and  Pacific  Rail¬ 
road  and  Telegraph  Company,”  but  for  the  purposes  of  this  pamphlet 
we  will  call  it  “The  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  Railway” — a  name 
more  in  harmony  with  the  main  idea,  and  more  appropriate  in  contrast 
with  the  various  Pacific  railways  north  of  it  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  We  will  include  under  this  title  not  only  the  line  across  North¬ 
ern  Mexico  from  the  Gulf  of  California  to  the  Rio  Grande,  but  the  lines 
supplementing  and  extending  it  across  Texas  to  Galveston  and  across 
our  Southern  or  Gulf  States  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard  at  Fernandina, 
Fla.,  and  Brunswick,  Ga.  Several  branch  lines  in  Northern  Mexico  will 
also  be  included  under  the  same  head. 

All  of  these  lines  have  great  local  merit,  and  the  trunk-line  has  in  ad¬ 
dition  striking  transcontinental  features  and  advantages. 

But  the  merits  of  the  project  are  so  conspicuous  that  facts  speak  best 
for  themselves,  and  we  will  rest  the  case  upon  the  following  plain  state¬ 
ment,  prepared  in  legal  brief  style,  with  a  citation  of  authorities. 

ALEX.  D.  ANDERSON 


Corcoran  Building, 

Washington,  D.  C.,  3fay,  1883. 


3 


CONTENTS 


Page. 

List  of  Officers  and  Directors . .  2 

Preface .  3 

Map  of  The  American  and  Mexican  Pacific,  contrasted  with  other  Trans¬ 
continental  Railways .  .  7 

I. 

HISTORICAL  NOTES . 7 

II. 

CHARTER  AND  CONCESSION .  11 

III. 

ITS  RELATION  TO  MEXICO. 

Map  in  Illustration . r: . . . . .  13 

An  Open  Field .  13 

The  Recent  Concessions . 14 

IV. 

ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  True  Southern  Pacific  Line . 16 

As  a  Short  Line  to  the  Pacific . . .  16 

Diagram  from  New  York  Standpoint .  17 

Diagram  from  Chicago  Standpoint .  17 

Diagram  from  St.  Louis  Standpoint .  17 

Diagram  from  New  Orleans  Standpoint . . .  17 

Contrast  of  Actual  Lines  of  Travel.. .  17 

As  a  Short  Line  to  the  Atlantic .  18 

Diagram  from  St.  Louis  Standpoint .  19 

Diagram  from  New  Orleans  Standpoint..... .  19 

As  a  Transcontinental  Short  Line . 19 

Other  Advantages .  19 

Y. 

TRIBUTARY  MINES  OF  SILVER  AND  GOLD. 

Value  of  Mines  to  a  Railway .  22 

Mining  Statistics  of  New  Spain .  22 

The  Marvellous  Wealth  of  Northern  Mexico .  23 


4 


5 


VI. 

TRIBUTARY  COAL  AND  IRON. 

Page. 

Coal  Fields  of  Northern  Mexico . . .  28 

Coal  Fields  of  Texas.. .  31 

Coal  Fields  of  Alabama  and  Georgia . 32 

Iron  of  Northern  Mexico .  33 

Iron  of  Alabama  and  Georgia .  34 

YII. 

TRIBUTARY  FORESTS. 

Map  of  Southern  Pine  Forests .  36 

In  Florida . . ! .  36 

In  Georgia . . . 37 

In  Alabama. . . . 38 

In  Mississippi .  39 

In  Louisiana .  40 

In  Texas .  41 

Summary . 42 

Quality  of  Southern  Pine . 43 

Map  of  the  Forests  of  Northern  Mexico . 44 

In  Northern  Mexico .  44 

VIII. 

TRIBUTARY  AGRICULTURE. 

In  Northern  Mexico . 46 

General  Notes . 46 

Cotton .  48 

Wheat  and  Corn .  49 

Grazing .  51 

In  Our  Southern  States .  51 

Cotton . . .  .  51 

Sugar . 52 

IX. 

TOPOLOBAMPO  HARBOR  AND  CITY  SITE. 

View  of  Entrance  to  Harbor .  53 

Map  of  Harbor . .  53 

Description  of  Harbor . 53 

Plan  of  Gonzalez  City . •. .  56 

Description  of  City  Site .  56 

Back  Country . 57 

Gulf  Surroundings .  58 


6 


x. 

TOPOLOBAMPO  AS  A  STARTING  POINT  FOR  PACIFIC  AND  ORIENTAL 

TRADE. 

Page. 

Map  in  Illustration .  61 

Pacific  Trade  Statistics .  61 

Ocean  Distances .  61 

Pacific  Currents .  62 

Pacific  Trade  Winds .  63 

As  an  Outlet  for  Mexican  Silver . . .  64 

XI. 

FERNANDINA  HARBOR  AND  CITY  SITE. 

Description  of  Harbor .  65 

Description  of  City  Site .  68 

XII. 

FERNANDINA  AS  A  COMMERCIAL  GATEWAY. 

Diagram  in  Illustration . . ; .  69 

To  Southern  Railways .  69 

To  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  Mississippi  Valley . .  .  69- 

To  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  and  Pacific  Ocean .  .  69 

To  Atlantic  Seaboard  and  Europe . . .  70 

XIII. 

COMMERCIAL  NECESSITY  FOR  ANOTHER  PACIFIC  RAILWAY. 

Map  in  Illustration .  71 

The  Weak  Side  of  our  Foreign  Commerce .  71 

Our  Foreign  Commerce  of  the  Second  Century .  72 

The  Mission  of  the  New  Railway . .  73 

XIV. 

ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  WORLD’S  TRADE. 

Map  in  Illustration . 75 

As  an  Air-Line  from  Liverpool  to  Australia .  75 

The  New  Course  of  Empire . 75 

APPENDIX. 

Authorities  on  Northern  Mexico .  76 

Authorities  on  West  Coast  of  Mexico . .  78 

Authorities  on  Winds,  Currents,  Navigation,  &c.,  of  the  North  Pacific .  80 


library 

*  ILLINOIS 


THE  AMERICAN  AMD  MEXICAN  PACIFIC 
CONTRASTED  WITH  OTHER  TRANSCONTINENTAL  RAILWAYS. 


HISTORICAL  NOTES. 


THE  construction  of  transportation  routes  from  the  interior  to  the  sea 
board  has  occupied  the  attention  of  the  United  States  ever  since 
it  became  an  independent  Republic.  Even  before  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  in  1789,  Gen’l  Washington  urged  the  importance  of  uniting 
in  commercial  ties  the  Mississippi  Valley  with  the  Atlantic  States,  by 
means  of  a  canal  from  the  Potomac,  or  James  river,  to  the  headwaters  of 
the  Ohio,  and  wrote  to  the  President  of  Congress  and  the  Governor  of 
Virginia  in  advocacy  of  the  project. 

As  early  as  1817  the  Erie  canal  was  commenced,  and  was  opened  in 
1826,  thereby  uniting  the  grain  regions  of  the  West  with  New  York  city. 

A  few  years  later  the  era  of  railways  was  fairly  inaugurated,  and  the 
work  of  their  construction  has  continued  until  the  whole  Mississippi 
Valley  and  all  States  east  of  there  are  covered  with  a  net- work  of  lines, 
all  of  which  connect  T^ith  the  great  trunk  roads  leading  to  the  Atlantic 
seaboard. 

From  the  interior  to  the  seaboard,  on  the  south,  railway  outlets  are 
less  numerous,  but  the  neglect  is  partially  counterbalanced  by  the  exist¬ 
ence  of  great  natural  water-ways — the  Mississippi  and  its  many  tributa¬ 
ries  intersecting  twenty-one  States  and  Territories,  and  comprising  over 
15,000  miles  of  present  navigation. 

From  the  interior  to  the  seaboard,  on  the  west,  there  are  but  few 
miles  of  river  navigation,  and  until  1869,  when  the  Union  and  Central 
Pacific  roads  were  opened,  there  was  no  railway  outlet.  A  glance  at  a 
commercial  map  of  the  United  States  is  sufficient  to  discover  extensive 
areas  unknown  to  steam  transportation  by  river  or  rail — blank  spaces 
which  the  demands  of  a  progressive  commercial  age  require  to  be  filled. 

But  the  subject  has  not  been  entirely  overlooked,  notwithstanding  it 
has  received  inadequate  treatment,  for  prior  to  the  late  civil  war  the 
United  States,  through  its  War  Department,  made  over  fifty  surveys  for 
wagon-roads,  railways,  &c.,  between  the  Mississippi  river  and  the  Pacific 
coast.  Some  of  these  explorations  were  across  Mexican  territory  prior 
to  our  acquisition  in  1848  of  ,the  broad  area  now  subdivided  into  Cali- 


8 


fornia,  Nevada,  Utah,  Arizona,  and  New  Mexico.  Many  other  explora¬ 
tions  were  made  by  unofficial  parties. 

As  early  as  1824  a  trading  caravan  went  from  Missouri  into  Northern 
Mexico,  a  part  going  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  California.  In  1825,  Senator 
Benton  reported  to  the  Senate  a  bill  providing  for  the  marking  out  of  a 
road  from  Missouri  to  the  border  of  Mexico,  and  supported  it  by  a  pow¬ 
erful  speech.  In  his  “  Thirty  Years’  View  ”  he  alludes  to  his  effort  in 
1825  to  develop  trade  in  that  direction,  and  says :  “  The  State  of  Mis¬ 

souri,  from  her  geographical  position  and  the  adventurous  spirit  of  her 
inhabitants,  was  the  first  to  engage  in  it,  and  the  ‘Western  Internal 
Provinces  ’ — the  vast  region  comprising  New  Mexico,  El  Paso  del  Norte, 
New  Biscay,  Chihuahua,  Sonora,  Sinaloa,  and  all  the  wide  slope  spread¬ 
ing  down  towards  the  Gulf  of  California,  the  ancient  ‘  Sea  of  Cortez  ’ — 
was  the  theatre  of  their  courageous  enterprise.”1 

A  detailed  review  of  the  many  surveys  and  explorations  from  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi  Yalley  to  Northern  Mexico  and  to  the  Pacific  ocean  at  different 
points  is  impossible  here,  for  it  would  require  several  well-filled  volumes. 
The  reader  can  find  nearly  all  of  this  information  in  the  twelve  quarto 
volumes  on  Pacific  Bailroad  Surveys  and  Explorations  prepared  by  the 
War  Department  under  authority  of  the  act  of  March  31,  1853.  In  vol¬ 
ume  I,  in  the  letter  of  the  Secretary  of  War  transmitting  this  elaborate 
report  to  Congress,  is  a  concise  review  of  the  merits  of  the  proposed  rail¬ 
way  routes  to  the  Pacific,  in  which  he  emphaticalfy  states  the  superiority 
of  the  route  farthest  south — that  along  the  3 2d  parallel  of  latitude  near 
the  Mexican  border.  Many  of  the  reasons  which  he  gives  for  this  pref¬ 
erence  may  be  applied  with  still  greater  force  to  the  Topolobampo  route  : 
but  he  could  not  make  such  an  application,  as  he  was  then  considering 
simply  the  routes  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States. 

With  this  official  report  in  print,  and  before  the  public  ever  since  1855, 
it  seems. strange  that  its  expressed  preference  was  not  observed  by  Con¬ 
gress  in  locating  and  subsidizing  the  first  Pacific  road.  But  other  con¬ 
siderations  than  the  merits  of  the  respective  routes  determined  this  loca¬ 
tion.  When  the  charter  for  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific  route  was 
granted  in  1862  the  country  was  divided  by  a  civil  war,  and  the  southern 
route  was,  for  that  reason,  impossible.  A  similar  reason  has  also  pre¬ 
vented  a  railway  across  Northern  Mexico,  for  that  country  was  from  the 
time  of  her  independence,  in  1821,  until  a  recent  date,  in  a  chronic  state 
of  revolution.  Happily,  both  countries  are  now  free  from  internal  dis¬ 
sension.  Commerce  and  the  arts  of  peace  can  now  be  considered  upon  their 
merits,  and  commercial  highways  be  located  and  built  where  most  useful, 
1  Thirty  Years’  View,  vol.  I,  p.  41. 


9 


regardless  of  State  or  sectional  lines  or  the  geographical  line  dividing  two 
adjoining  and  friendly  Republics. 

Under  these  favorable  circumstances  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific 
route  is  presented  to  the  public  upon  its  merits.  Its  history  is  as  follows  : 
In  1872,  Albert  K.  Owen,  a  civil  engineer  connected  with  Gen’l  Wm.  J. 
Palmer’s  and  Gen.  W.  S.  Rosecrans’  railway  reconnoissance,  had  oc¬ 
casion  to  examine  the  Pacific  coast  of  Northern  Mexico,  together  with 
the  Cordilleras  and  central  plateau.  His  attention  was  called  to  Topo- 
lobampo  harbor  by  Dr.  Benj.  R.  Carman,  of  Mazatlan,  Mexico,  who, 
because  of  its  superiority,  had,  together  with  Senor  Don  Bias  Ybarra, 
purchased  the  surrounding  lands  which  were  available  for  a  city  site. 
Returning  to  the  United  States,  Mr.  Owen  projected  a  railroad  to  con¬ 
nect  this  harbor  with  the  Texas  lines,  and  had  introduced  in  Congress  a 
bill  providing  for  a  railway  survey  across  Northern  Mexico  to  that  point, 
and  supported  the  same  before  the  Senate  and  House  Committees  on 
Pacific  Railroads  by  earnest  and  unanswerable  arguments  and  briefs. 

The  bill  was  favorably  and  unanimously  reported  by  the  Senate  and 
House  Committees  on  Pacific  Railways  of  the  44th  and  45th  Congress — 
having  been  previously  passed  upon  by  a  special  committee  of  U.  S.  en¬ 
gineers,  appointed  by  the  Department  of  War — but,  like  hundreds  of 
other  bills  upon  a  crowded  calendar,  failed  to  receive  final  action.  In 
the  meanwhile  a  new  era  of  peace  and  material  development  had  dawned 
upon  Mexico,  and  instead  of  legislation  at  Washington  for  a  railway 
survey  Mr.  Owen  organized  a  company  in  Boston  and  New  York,  and 
application  was  made  for  a  railway  concession  at  the  city  of  Mexico. 

Anticipating  a  favorable  reply  to  its  request  for  a  charter,  the  company 
sent  an  expedition  to  make  a  reconnoissance  of  the  route  and  harbor, 
which  work  has  already  been  completed,  and  the  report  of  the  same 
printed.  It  is  exceedingly  favorable,  and  fully  confirms  Mr.  Owen’s 
statements  before  Congress  concerning  the  practicability  and  advan¬ 
tages  of  the  route. 

Since  writing  the  above  we  have  discovered  a  valuable  endorsement  of 
the  merits  of  a  commercial  highway  across  Northern  Mexico  to  the  Gulf 
of  California,  as  follows  : 

In  1859,  during  the  administration  of  President  Buchanan,  a  treaty 
of  Transits  and  Commerce  was  signed  by  the  official  representatives  of 
the  two  adjoining  Republics.  The  transit  lines  referred  to  were  the 
Isthmian  or  Tehuantepec  route  and  a  line  across  Northern  Mexico. 
The  United  States  Minister  at  Mexico,  in  one  of  his  despatches  to  our 
State  Department,  dwelt  upqp  the  importance  of  the  line  across  Northern 


10 


Mexico,  and  in  another  despatch,  said  :  “  Exercising  my  own  discretion 
and  judgment,  I  woidd  appropriate  five  million  dollars  to  the  transits .” 

The  correspondence  relating  to  this  proposed  treaty  has  never  been 
made  public,  but  has  been  called  for  by  a  Senate  resolution,  and  will 
doubtless  soon  be  printed  and  accessible. 

In  concluding  this  brief  historical  statement  we  will  add  that  this 
trunk  line  across  Northern  Mexico,  supplemented  by  the  line  across  our 
Gulf  States  to  Fernandina,  Fla.,  is  the  first  transcontinental  route  ever 
explored  in  America  ;  for  early  in  the  16  th  century  that  daring  Spanish 
explorer,  Alvar  Nunez  (commonly  known  as  Cabeza  de  Yaca)  travelled 
over  almost  identically  the  same  route  in  his  remarkable  trip  from  Florida 
to  the  early  Spanish  settlements  on  the  Gulf  of  California. 


V 


II. 


CHARTER  AND  CONCESSION. 

Charter. 

The  corporate  name  of  the  Company  is  “  The  Texas ,  Topolobampo , 
and  Pacific  Pailroad  and  Telegraph  Company The  charter 
was  granted  under  the  general  railroad  law  of  Massachusetts,  on  the 
eighth  of  March,  1881 — a  law  which  offers  many  advantages,  and  which 
was  selected  after  very  careful  examination  by  the  legal  advisers  of  the 
Company. 

The  Concession. 

The  concession  from  Mexico  was  obtained  on  the  13th  of  June,  1881, 
and  amended  and  enlarged  on  the  5th  daj^  of  December,  1882.  Its  lead¬ 
ing  provisions  are  as  follows  : 

The  right  to  construct  and  operate  for  99  years  a  trunk  line  of  rail¬ 
road  (standard  gauge)  from  Topolobampo  Bay  to  Piedras  Negras,  on  the 
Rio  Grande ;  also  branches  from  the  trunk  line  to  Alamos  in  Sonora, 
Mazatlan  in  the  State  of  Sinaloa,  to  Presidio  del  Norte  on  the  Rio  Grande, 
and  to  other  points,  a  total  of  about  2,000  miles. 

The  right  to  alienate  the  branches  but  not  the  main  line  until  after 
said  main  line  is  completed. 

The  Company  may  connect  its  lines  with  any  others  within  or  without 
the  limits  of  Mexico,  and  may  co-operate  with  other  companies  as  they 
may  agree. 

It  must  always  be  held  to  be  Mexican,  and  be  subject  to  the  laws  of 
that  Republic. 

It  is  entitled  to  a  subsidy  from  the  Mexican  Government  of  $8,064  per 
mile  upon  all  of  its  lines,  making  a  total  subsidy  of  about  $16,000,000. 

Vessels  entering  any  port  of  the  Republic  with  material  and  supplies 
for  the  railway  are  to  be  exempt  from  tonnage,  light-house,  anchorage, 
and  port  duties,  for  a  period  of  15  years. 

The  Company  has  the  right  of  way  for  227^  feet — 113f  each  side  of 
the  track — along  all  of  its  lines. 

Deposits  of  ore,  coal,  salt,  marbles,  and  all  other  metals  and  minerals, 


12 


found  in  the  prosecution  of  the  work  of  construction,  are  to  belong  to 
the  Company,  provided  the  rights  of  third  partied  are  not  thereby 
prejudiced. 

Construction  materials  of  all  kinds  are  to  be  free  from  every  class  of 
import  and  custom-house  duty  for  fifteen  years. 

The  lines  of  the  road  and  their  appurtenances,  also  the  capital  employed 
in  constructing  and  operating  the  same,  the  common  and  preferred 
shares,  bonds,  and  obligations  of  the  Company,  shall  be  exempt  from  all 
taxes,  except  stamp  dues,  for  a  period  of  fifty  years. 

The  freight  tariffs  of  the  Company  are  not  to  exceed  the  following 
rate  per  ton  per  kilometre  of  distance :  6  cents  on  first  class,  4  cents  on 
second  class,  2J  cents  on  third-class  freights,  and  1J  cents  on  coal. 

The  passenger  tariff  per  each  kilometre  travelled  is  not  to  exceed  3 
cents  for  first  class,  2  cents  for  second  class,  and  14  cents  for  third-class 
passengers. 

The  Government  of  Mexico  engages  not  to  subsidize  any  parallel  road 
within  a  limit  of  25  leagues  on  each  side  of  the  Company’s  lines. 

The  Company  is  at  liberty  to  obtain  additional  subsidies  from  the 
governments  of  the  States  intersected  by  the  road. 


THE  AMERICAN  AND  MEXICAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY— ITS  RELATION  TO  MEXICO. 


III. 


ITS  RELATION  TO  MEXICO. 

THE  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  Railway  is  based  upon  a  different 
idea  from  that  underlying  the  four  great  international  lines  pro¬ 
jected  from  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  city  of  Mexico.  It  is  pre-eminently 
a  mining  and  transcontinental  road,  tapping  the  marvelously  rich  mines 
of  Northern  Mexico,  and,  at  the  same  time,  forming  a  short  trunk  line 
to  the  Pacific  coast  from  the  great  commercial  centres  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley  and  our  Atlantic  seaboard.  The  combined  areas  of  Chihuahua, 
Coahuila,  Sinaloa,  and  Sonora,  the  four  States  intersected  by  the  main 
line  and  branches,  is  273,294  square  miles,  or  nearly  four  times  the  area 
of  all  New  England.  It  is  greater  than  France,  England,  and  Belgium 
combined.  The  general  public  seem  to  misunderstand  this  point,  and 
some  timid  capitalists  fear  that  the  railway  business  in  Mexico  is  being 
overdone.  It  may  be  well  to  meet  this  objection  at  the  outset. 

An  Open  Field. 

The  United  States,  with  an  area  of  3,026,494  square  miles,  had,  in  1882, 
117,000  miles  of  railway. 

Mexico,  with  an  area  of  763,804  square  miles,  or  twenty-five  per  cent, 
of  that  of  the  United  States,  had,  in  1882,  only  about  2,000  miles. 

To  be  on  a  level  with  the  United  States  in  this  respect  she  should  now 
have  29,250  miles. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  United  States  has  navigable  rivers  to  the 
extent  of  about  25,000  miles,  the  Mississippi  and  its  forty-two  navigable 
tributaries1  being  navigable  to  the  extent  of  15,710  miles,  and  the  other 
rivers  flowing  into  the  Atlantic,  Gulf,  and  Pacific,  such  as  the  Hudson, 
Potomac,  James,  Tombigbee,  Trinity,  Brazos,  and  Columbia,  to  the 
extent  of  about  10,000  more. 

Mexico,  because  of  her  peculiar  formation,  which  is  about  three-fourths 
table  lands,  has  almost  no  river  navigation — not  over  2,000  miles  in  all. 
The  United  States  has  canals  to  the  extent  of  4,000  miles. 

Mexico  has  no  canals,  and  never  can  have  many,  for  the  same  reason 
that  she  is  without  navigable  rivers.2 

1  The  Mississippi  and  Tributaries,  by  Alex.  D.  Anderson,  pp.  17  and  18. 

2  The  “  Viga  ”  canal,  12  miles  long,  connecting  Lakes  Chaleo  and  Xochimilco  with 
Mexico  City  and  the  “  Lazarus  ”  canal,  5  miles  from  Mexico,  to  Lake  Texcoco,  are 
too  small  to  place  in  the  above  table  of  transportation  routes. 

*  13 


14 


The  total  mileage  of  transportation  lines  from  the  interior  to  the  sea¬ 
board  of  the  two  Republics  is,  then  about  as  follows : 


Railways . 

Navigable  rivers 
Canals . 


United  States.  Mexico. 

117,000  2,000 

25,000  2,000 

4,000  0 


Total 


146,000  4,000 


It  follows  that,  from  the  standpoint  of  area,  Mexico  should  now  have 
36,500  miles  of  inland  transportation  lines  to  be  on  a  level  with  us,  of 
which  all  but  about  2,000  miles  must  be  railways. 

From  the  standpoint  of  population  the  case  is  as  follows  : 

The  United  States  had,  in  1880,  a  population  of  50,152,866.  Mexico 
had,  in  1880,  a  population  of  9,577,279,  or  nineteen  per  cent,  of  that  of 
the  United  States.  As  her  area  is  only  25  per  cent,  of  that  of  the  United 
States,  her  population  per  square  mile  is  almost  as  dense  as  ours- 
From  this  standpoint,  then,  she  should  have  19  per  cent,  of  our  inland 
transportation  facilities,  or  27,740— all  but  about  2,000  of  which  must  be 
railways. 

In  natural  resources,  mines,  and  agriculture  Mexico  is,  in  proportion 
to  area,  as  rich  as  the  United  States.  From  this  standpoint  she  requires 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  our  inland  transportation  facilities,  or  36,500 
miles — all  but  2,000  of  which  must  be  railways. 


The  Recent  Concessions. 

The  question  now  arises,  is  this  Mexican  field  likely  to  be  over  oc¬ 
cupied  by  railway  builders  ?  Are  the  recent  railway  concessions  too 
numerous  and  extensive  ? 

Robert  B.  Gorsuch,  Esq.,  a  Mexican  engineer,  has  recently  compiled 
for  the  writer  a  full  list  of  the  railway  concessions  made  by  the  Mexican 
Republic  since  the  overthrow  of  Maximilian’s  empire,  from  which  it  ap¬ 
pears  that  the  total  mileage  of  concessions  existing  December  31,  1882, 
was  but  about  17,000,  or  less  than  half  the  above  stated  railway  require¬ 
ments  of  Mexico  from  the  standpoint  of  area,  and  less  than  two-thirds 
of  her  requirements  from  the  standpoint  of  population. 

Of  the  total  lines  projected,  about  5,000  miles  may  not  be  constructed 
at  present ;  but  the  remaining  12,000  miles  are  likely  to  be  both  con¬ 
structed  and  completed  within  the  coming  few  years.  The  total  amount 
of  subsidies,  on  which  Mexico  is  liable  under  the  concessions  made  up  to 
December  31,  1882,  is  stated  by  Mr.  Gorsuch  to  be  about  $126,000,000. 


15 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  observe  that  our  Pacific  railways 
alone  received  from  the  United  States  a  grant  of  150,000,000  acres  of 
land,  and  a  loan  of  bonds  to  the  extent  of  $64,623,512. 

We  see  nothing  in  the  above  array  of  figures  to  indicate  that  the  rail¬ 
way  business  of  Mexico  is  being  overdone.  On  the  contrary,  the  field 
is  the  most  open  and  promising  one  that  can  be  found  upon  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  has  been  too  long  neglected  by  our  capitalists  and  railway 
builders. 


IV. 


ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

4  S  was  shown  on  a  previous  page,  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific 
is  based  on  a  different  idea  from  the  international  roads  extending 
from  the  Rio  GrandeTo  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  is  comparatively  inde¬ 
pendent  of  them.  But  it  is  most  intimately  connected  with  the  railway 
systems  of  Texas,  the  Mississippi  Yalley,  and  all  States  east  of  the 
Valley. 

The  True  Southern  Pacific  Line. 

It  is  the  natural  and  short  trunk  line  to  the  Pacific  for  the  roads  com¬ 
ing  from  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Louisville,  Memphis,  Nashville,  Norfolk, 
Savannah,  Brunswick,  Atlanta,  Fernandina,  New  Orleans,  and  all  South¬ 
ern  cities.  A  glance  at  a  map  of  trans-Mississippi  railways  now  in  exist¬ 
ence  shows  that  while  the  central  portion  of  the  Mississippi  Yalley  is 
covered  with  a  perfect  net -work  of  lines,  there  is  a  broad  blank  in  the 
great  Southwest  which  needs  to  be  filled. 

As  a  Short  Line  to  the  Pacific. 

It  may  seem  a  broad  assertion,  but  nevertheless  it  is  a  fact,  that  each 
and  every  one  of  our  Atlantic  ports,  from  Portland,  Maine,  to  the  south¬ 
ern  extremity  of  Florida ;  each  and  every  one  of  our  Gulf  ports,  from 
Florida  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande ;  each  and  every  city  of  the 
Mississippi  Yalley  west  of  Omaha  and  south  of  Wisconsin,  is  nearer  the 
Pacific  Ocean  at  Topolobampo  than  at  San  Diego,  San  Francisco,  or 
Portland,  the  termini,  respectively,  of  the  Texas  Pacific,  Union  Pacific, 
and  Northern  Pacific  roads.  The  following  diagrams  will  demonstrate 
the  correctness  of  the  assertion : 


[6 


AS  A  SHORT  LINE  TO  THE  PACIFIC. 


AS  A  SHORT  LINE  TO  THE  PACIFIC. 


SAN  FRANCISCO 


Miles. 

St.  Louis  to  Topolobampo  . 1,416 

“  "  San  Diego . i,557 

“  “  San  Francisco  .  . . 1,738 

"  “  Portland . 1,718 


Miles. 

New  Orleans  to  Topolobampo . x  200 

“  San  Diego .  j,6o8 

“  San  Francisco . ».  .  .  1,926 

“  Portland . 2,064 


11 


The  above  air  line  distances  show  the  following  saving  from  the  great 
commercial  centres  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
to  the  Pacific  coast,  at  Topolobampo. 

From  New  York  standpoint : 

Topolobampo  nearer  than  San  Diego . 

“  “  San  Francisco 

“  “  “  Portland . 


From  Chicago  Standpoint : 

Topolobampo  nearer  than  San  Diego . .  71 

“  “  “  San  Francisco .  195 

“  “  “  Portland .  92 

From  St.  Louis  Standpoint : 

Topolobampo  nearer  than  San  Diego .  141 

“  “  “  San  Francisco .  322 

“  “  “  Portland .  302 

From  New  Orleans  Standpoint: 

Topolobampo  nearer  than  San  Diego . .  408 

“  “  “  San  Francisco .  726 

“  “  “  Portland .  864 

From  Galveston  Standpoint : 

Topolobampo  nearer  than  San  Diego .  430 

“  “  “  San  Francisco .  778 

“  “  “  Portland .  983 


Contrast  of  Actual  Lines  of  Travel: — We  have  taken  air-lines  instead 
of  actual  routes  for  the  above  contrast,  as  the  point  under  consideration 
could  thus  be  more  clearly  illustrated  by  diagrams.  But  the  saving  of 
distance  in  favor  of  the  Topolobampo  route  is  usually  greater  if  we 
contrast  actual  railway  lines. 

From  New  York  city  the  distances  are  as  follows  : 

New  York  to  San  Francisco  : 

Miles. 


Via  Pa.  R.  R.  to  Pittsburg . 444 

“  Ft.  Wayne  &  Chi.  R.R.  to  Chicago .  468 

“  Chi.,  R.  I.  &  Pac.  R’way  to  Omaha . 500 

“  Union  Pac.  R’way  to  Ogden . 1,033 

“  Central  Pac.  R’w’y  to  San  Francisco  .  895 

Total . 3,340 


Miles. 

.  165 
.  304 
.  176 


18 


New  York  to  Topolobampo  : 

Miles. 

Via  Pa.  R.R.  to  Philadelphia .  90 

“  P.,  W.  &  B.  R.R.  to  Baltimore .  98 

“  B.  &  P.  R.R.  to  Washington .  43 

“  Midland  R.R.  to  Lynchburg .  178 

“  Norfolk  &  West’n  R.R.  to  Bristol .  204 

E.  Tenn.,  Va.  &  Ga.  R.R.  to  Chattanooga .  242 

“  Ala.  &  Gt.  So.  R.R.  to  Meridian  .  295 

“  Vicks.  &  Mer.  R.R.  to  Vicksburg .  140 

“  Vicks. ,  Shreve.  &  Pac.  R.R.  to  Monroe .  73 

“  Monroe  to  Shreveport,  about .  77 

“  Tex.  Pac.  R.R.  to  Longview .  63 

“  Interna.  &  Gt.  N.  R.R.  to  San  Antonio .  343 

“  San.  A.  &  Border  R.R.  to  Eagle  Pass .  150 

“  Amer.  &  Mex.  Pac.  R’w’y  to  Topolobampo .  700 

Total . 2,696 


The  result  shows  that  the  projected  railway  line  to  Topolobampo  is 
644  miles  shorter  than  the  actual  and  usual  route  to  San  Francisco, 
being  more  than  double  the  saving  shown  by  the  above  air-line  distances. 

From  St.  Louis,  which  is  a  central  city  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and 
is  so  related  to  the  railway  lines  east  of  the  Mississippi  river  that  the 
test  from  this  standpoint  is  a  very  fair  one,  the  comparison  is  as  follows 


/St.  Louis  to  San  Francisco  : 

Miles. 

Via  Wabash,  St.  L.  &  Pac.  R’w’y  to  Omaha .  410 

“  Union  Pac.  R’w’y  to  Ogden . 1,033 

“  Central  Pac.  R’w’y  to  San  Francisco .  895 


Total . 2,338 

St.  Louis  to  Topolobampo  : 

Via  St.  L.,  I.  Mt.  &  S.  R’w’y  to  Texarkana .  490 

“  Tex.  Pac.  R’w’y  to  Longview .  97 

“  I.  &  Gt.  N.  R’w’y  to  San  Antonio .  343 

“  San  A.  &  Border  R’w’y  to  Eagle  Pass .  150 

“  Amer.  &  Mex.  Pac.  R’w’y  to  Topolobampo .  700 

Total . 1,780 


In  other  words,  the  distance  by  way  of  the  projected  railway  line  to 
Topolobampo  is  558  miles  less  than  the  actual  customary  and  most 
direct  line  to  San  Francisco,  being  a  far  greater  saving  than  shown  by 
the  above  air-lines. 

As  a  Short  Line  to  the  Atlantic. 

If  we  reverse  the  above  diagrams  from  the  standpoints  of  St.  Louis  and 
New  Orleans,  we  will  find  that  the  line  to  Fernandina  has  similar  advan¬ 
tage  over  more  northern  routes  as  a  short  outlet  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 


AS  A  SHORT  LINE  TO  THE  ATLANTIC 


St.  Louis  to  Fernandina . 755 

“  “  New  York . 880 


Miles. 


New  Orleans  to  Fernandina . 505 

“  “  Norfolk . 930 

“  “  New  York . 1,180 


19 


The  above  air-line  distances  show  the  following  saving  from  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi  Valley  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

From  /St.  Louis  standpoint  : 

Miles. 


'  Fernandina  nearer  than  Norfolk .  20 

“  “  “  New  York . 125 

From  New  Orleans  standpoint  : 

Fernandina  nearer  than  Norfolk .  425 

“  “  “  New  York .  675 


As  a  Transcontinental  Short  Line. 

By  reference  to  the  map  of  transcontinental  railways  preceding 
Chapter  I,  the  reader  will  find  a  still  more  pointed  contrast  of  distances 
than  those  we  have  just  given. 

The  distances  across  the  continent  are  as  follows  : 


Miles. 

Via  Canadian  Pac.  and  connections  to  Quebec . 3,409 

“  Northern  “  “  “  “  New  York .  3,305 

“  Central  “  “  “  “  “  “  .  3.340 

“  Atlantic  &  Pac.  and  connections  to  New  York .  3, 114 

“  Southern  “  “  “  “  Norfolk .  3,555 

“  Amer.  &  Mex.  Pac.  and  connections  to  Brunswick .  2,  205 

“  “  “  “  “  “  “  Fernandina .  .  1,995 

“  “  “  “  “  u  “  “  Galveston .  1,070 


The  saving  of  distance  via  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  route 
from  Topolobampo  to  Fernandina  is,  then,  as  follows  : 


Miles. 

Shorter  than  Canadian  Pac.  route .  1,  414 

“  “  Northern  “  “  1,310 

“  “  Central  “  “  1,345 

“  “  Atlantic  &  “  “  ..; .  1,119 

“  “  Southern  “  “  1,560 


Other  Advantages. 

Not  only  is  it  the  shortest  possible  route  across  the  continent,  but  it 
is  a  railway  complete  in  itself.  We  mean  by  this  that  each  end  is,  in 
supply  and  demand,  the  complement  of  the  other.  Georgia  is  fast  be¬ 
coming  a  second  New  England  in  industrial  pursuits,  and  can  supply 
Texas  and  Northern  Mexico  with  cotton  and  other  manufactures,  while 
Texas  and  Northern  Mexico  can  send  in  return  beef,  grain,  wool,  and 
silver. 

The  route  is  also  complete  in  another  important  respect.  At  each  end 
is  a  fine  harbor — the  one  a  favorable  starting-point  for  the  markets  of 


20 


Europe,  and  the  other  admirably  situated  for  reaching  the  commerce  of 
the  Orient  and  South  Sea. 

It  is  always  free  from  the  periodical  snow-blockades  which  so  seriously 
annoy  the  patrons  of  the  Union  and  Northern  Pacific  lines. 

Of  the  climate  of  Northern  Mexico  Dr.  Wislizenus  says  in  writing  of 
Chihuahua :  “  The  climate  generally  is  temperate.  The  influence  of  the 
most  southern  latitude  of  the  State  is  counterbalanced  by  its  high  eleva¬ 
tion  above  the  sea.  In  the  mountainous  parts  of  the  Sierra  Madre  there 
is,  of  course,  a  great  variety  in  the  seasons  ;  hot  summers,  rainy  sea¬ 
sons,  and  severe  winters  often  follow  each  other.  But  on  the  plains  of 
the  plateau,  between  4,000  and  5,000  feet  above  the  sea,  there  prevails 
a  delightful  constant  climate,  with  moderate  temperature  in  summer  and 
winter,  with  a  clear  and  dry  atmosphere,  interrupted  only  by  the  rainy 
season,  which  generally  lasts  through  July  and  August.”  *  *  *  “  The 
great  dryness  of  the  atmosphere  produces,  of  course,  a  very  free  devel¬ 
opment  of  electricity.  By  rubbing  the  hair  of  cats  and  dogs  in  the  dark, 
I  could  elicit  here  a  greater  mass  of  electricity  than  I  had  ever  seen  pro¬ 
duced  in  this  way.”1 

As  was  stated  in  the  Historical  Notes  on  a  previous  page,  the  Secre¬ 
tary  of  War  in  transmitting  to  Congress,  in  1855,  the  voluminous  reports 
on  the  various  Pacific  Bailway  Surveys  and  Explorations  west  of  the 
Mississippi  Biver,  expressed  a  decided  preference  for  the  most  southern 
route — that  along  the  32d  parallel  of  latitude.  His  reasons  for  this 
preference  were  as  follows : 

“  This  is  the  shortest  route  ;  and  not  only  is  its  estimated  cost  less  by 
a  third  than  that  of  any  other  of  the  lines,  but  the  character  of  the  work 
required  is  such  that  it  could  be  executed  in  a  vastly  shorter  period.” 
*  *  *  “  Temporary  tracks  could  be  laid  upon  the  natural  surface  of 

the  earth  to  almost  any  extent  to  serve  for  the  transportation  of  ma¬ 
terials  and  supplies.” 

“  The  climate  on  this  route  is-  such  as  to  cause  less  interruption  to  the 
work  than  on  any  other  route.” 

“Not  only  is  this  the  shortest  and  least  costly  route  to  the  Pacific,  but 
it  is  the  shortest  and  cheapest  route  to  San  Francisco,  the  greatest  com¬ 
mercial  city  on  our  western  coast,  while  the  aggregate  length  of  railroad 
lines  connecting  it  at  its  eastern  terminus  with  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf 
seaports  is  less  than  the  aggregate  connection  with  any  other  route,  as 
will  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  appended  table  B.” 

“  With  regard  to  the  circumstances  which  affect  the  cost  of  working 
and  maintaining  the  road,  they  are  more  favorable  than  on  any  other 
1  Sen.  Mis.  Doc.  26,  30th  Cong.,  1st  sess.,  p.  55. 


21 


route.  In  this  dry  climate  the  decay  of  cross-ties  and  other  timber 
would  be  very  slow,  and  the  absence  of  severe  frost  would  have  a  most 
important  influence  upon  the  permanence  of  the  road-bed,  and  heavier 
grades  could  be  adopted  than  in  a  climate  where  ice  and  snow  prevail. 

“The  snows  on  all  the  other  routes,  except  that  of  the  35th  parallel, 
could  not  fail,  at  certain  seasons,  to  suspend  the  working  of  the  road, 
for  on  all  such  snows  are  known  to  have  fallen  as  would  interpose  an 
effectual  barrier  to  the  passage  of  trains.  Such  an  occurrence  in  this 
desolate  region  would  be  attended  with  more  serious  consequences  than 
in  inhabited  districts.” 

“  In  only  one  important  respect  is  this  route  supposed  to  be  less  favor¬ 
able  than  some  of  the  others,  and  that  is  in  the  supply  of  fuel.” 

The  strongest  of  these  arguments  may  be  applied  with  double  force 
to  the  Topolobampo  route,  and  doutless  would  have  been  so  applied  by 
the  Secretary  of  War,  if  Northern  Mexico  had  been  within  the  jurisdic¬ 
tion  of  his  report.  And  the  only  important  objection  which  he  states 
may  be  urged  against  she  32d  parallel  route,  “the  lack  of  fuel,”  cannot 
be  urged  against  the  Topolobampo  route,  for  as  was  shown  on  previous 
pages  there  is  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  both  timber  and  coal  along  and 
near  the  the  line  of  the  road. 

In  brief,  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  line  is  the  best  that  can 
possibly  be  projected  across  the  American  continent,  and  is  destined  to 
be  exceedingly  popular  with  the  travelling  public. 


y. 


TRIBUTARY  MINES  OF  SILVER  AND  GOLD. 

Value  of  Mines  to  a  Railway. 

IN  the  opinion  of  competent  judges — persons  who  have  had  occasion, 
in  a  business  way,  to  observe  the  amount  of  transportation  accruing 
to  railways  which  intersect  mining  regions — one  good  developed  silver 
or  gold  mine  furnishes  more  patronage  than  a  city  of  ten  thousand  in¬ 
habitants.  This  is  considered  a  moderate  estimate  of  the  value  of  a  mine 
to  a  railway.  The  vast  amount  of  transportation  required  by  mining 
regions  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  heavy  machinery,  timbers  for  the  mines, 
supplies,  and  provisions  have  to  be  brought  from  other  points.  What, 
then,  are  the  mineral  resources  along  the  line  of  the  road  ? 

Mining  Statistics  of  New  Spain. 

We  can  best  answer  this  question  by  first  taking  a  comprehensive  view 
of  the  silver  and  gold  products  of  the  former  Vice-Royalty  of  New  Spain, 
through  the  centre  of  which  the  Topolobampo  line  is  projected. 

New  Spain  was  for  three  hundred  years — 1521  to  1821 — the  name  of 
the  broad  southwestern  country  comprising  present  Mexico  and  her 
cessions  to  the  United  States  of  1848  and  1853.  Those  cessions  have 
since  been  subdivided  into  California,  Nevada,  Arizona,  New  Mexico, 
Utah,  Texas,1  and  Southern  Colorado. 

A  careful  compilation  from  official  and  other  standard  sources — 
viz  :  Humboldt’s  New  Spain,  the  Reports  of  the  U.  S.  Commissioner  on 
Mining  Statistics,  Director  of  the  U.  S.  Mint  and  others — shows  the  fol¬ 
lowing  sum  total  of  products,  viz  :2 

Mexico . 1521-1804 . $2,027,952,000 

Do . 1804-1848 .  768,188,420 

Do . 1848-1876 . 702,000,000 

Do . 1876-1881 .  145,000,000 

1  Texas  declared  her  independence  from  Mexico  in  1836,  but  as  she  was  included 
in  the  treaty  of  Guadaloupe  Hidalgo  of  1848,  it  is  proper  to  call  her  a  portion  of  that 
cession. 

2  The  Silver  Country,  or  Great  Southwest,  by  Alex.  D.  Anderson,  p.  51. 


22 


23 


California . 

. 1848-1876. 

Do . 

. 1876-1881. 

Nevada . 

. 1848-1876. 

Do . 

. 1876-1881. 

Arizona  . 

. 1848-1876. 

Do . 

. 1876-1881. 

New  Mexico . 

. 1848-1876 

Do . 

. 1876-1881, 

Utah . 

. 1848-1876, 

Do . 

. 1876-1881 

1,064,628,502 

90,844,000 

293,233,910 

170,687,000 

7,962,000 

12,162,000 

6,075,000 

2,980,000 

17,472,773 

28,007,000 


Total  of  New  Spain,  1521  to  1881 


,$5,337,192,605 


Of  this  vast  sum  the  chief  portion  was  silver.  Contrasted  with  the 
whole  world  the  silver  product  of  New  Spain  was  as  follows,  up  to  the 


beginning  of  1876  :l 

Silver-  product  Silver  product 

Years.  of  the  world.  of  New  Spain. 

1492-1804 . $4,455,130,000  $1,948,952,000 

1804-1848 . 1,223,781,674  685,418,247 

1848-1868 .  971,060,000  489,100,000 

1868-1876 .  582,100,000  378,837,078 


Total,  1492-1876 . $7,232,071,674  $3,502,307,325 


In  other  words,  from  1492  to  1804  New  Spain  produced  forty-three 
per  cent,  of  the  silver  of  the  world;  from  1804-1848,  fifty-six  per  cent. ; 
from  1848-1868,  fifty  per  cent.;  from  1868-1875,  sixty-five  per  cent ., 
and  during  the  year  1875,  seventy-five  per  cent.1 

The  Marvellous  Wealth  of  Northern  Mexico. 

The  mines  in  the  States  of  Northern  Mexico  have  not  been  as  thor¬ 
oughly  worked  as  those  in  other  portions  of  New  Spain,  but  they  are 
marvellously  rich,  and  will,  as  soon  as  supplied  with  railway  transpor¬ 
tation,  enter  upon  an  era  of  development  destined  to  surpass  the  palmiest 
days  of  Spanish  rule.  The  authorities  upon  this  point  are  both  abun¬ 
dant  and  reliable. 

.Ward,  the  British  Minister  to  Mexico  in  1827,  reported  as  follows  : 
“  The  States  Durango,  Sonora,  Chihuahua,  and  Sinaloa  contain  an  infinity 
of  mines  hitherto  but  little  known,  but  holding  out,  wherever  they  have 
been  tried,  a  promise  of  riches  superior  to  any  that  Mexico  has  yet  pro¬ 
duced.”  3 

1  The  Silver  Country,  or  Great  Southwest,  by  Alex.  D.  Anderson,  p.  61. 

2  Ditto,  p.  63. 

3  Mexico  in- 1827,  by  H.  G.  Ward.  Vol.  I,  p.  452. 


24 


J.  R.  Bartlett,  the  U.  S.  Commissioner  on  the  boundary  between  Mexico 
and  the  United  States,  wrote,  about  1853  :  “  I  shall  not  enter  into  any 
particulars  as  to  the  great  variety  of  mines  in  the  State  of  Chihuahua,  as 
the  subject  is  too  extensive  to  be  treated  of  in  a  work  like  the  present.  I 
have,  however,  collected  much  information  respecting  it  wrhich  may  here¬ 
after  be  given  to  the  public.  At  present  I  will  merely  say  that  the  min¬ 
eral  wealth  of  Chihuahua  is  not  surpassed,  if  equalled,  in  variety  and  ex¬ 
tent  in  any  State  in  the  world.”  1 

In  1864  a  report  on  the  mines  of  Chihuahua  was  expressly  made  for 
Napoleon  III  by  Dr.  Roger  Dubois,  the  French  consul.  He  testifies  as 
follows  :  “  Of  all  the  States  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  Chihuahua  is 
without  contradiction,  the  richest  in  minerals,  and  we  count  no  less  than 
three  thousand  different  mineral  leads  that  were  explored  in  the  last  cen¬ 
tury,  the  greater  part  of  which  are  silver.”  2 

In  1868  the  Mexican  Committee  on  Mining  Taxes  said  in  their  report : 
M  The  mineral  wealth  of  the  States  of  Durango,  Sonora,  and  Chihuahua 
is  greater  than  all  the  rest  of  our  territory  from  certain  indications,  and 
it  will  be  developed  as  soon  as  settlers  are  protected  from  the  scalping- 
knives  of  the  savages.”3 

Dr.  Wislizinus,  whose  report  on  Northern  Mexico  has  been  published 
as  one  of  the  miscellaneous  documents  of  the  United  States  Senate, 
wrote  :  “  The  silver  mines  of  the  State  of  Chihuahua,  though  worked  for 
centuries,  seem  to  be  inexhaustible.  The  discovery  of  new  mines  is  but 
a  common  occurrence,  and,  attracted  by  them,  the  mining  population 
moves  generally  from  one  place  to  another  without  exhausting  the  old 
ones.” 4 

United  States  consul  Garrison,  under  date  of  September  30,  1872, 
reported  to  the  State  Department  as  follows  :  “  Sonora  is  undoubtedly 
one  of  the  most  valuable  mineral  States  of  Mexico,  rich  in  mineral 
wealth.  Immense  stores  of  silver,  gold,  copper,  lead,  and  iron  yet  remain 
buried  in  her  mountains  all  over  the  State.  There  have  been  discovered 
in  this  State  over  seven  hundred  gold  and  silver  mines  which  have  mostly 
been  worked  to  some  extent ;  also  tin,  coal,  &c.,  and  gold  and  silver 
placers,  and  a  mountain  of  plumbago,  and  two  of  white  marble,  saltpetre, 
soda,  potash,  &c.”5 

The  same  officer  says  in  his  annual  report  of  1876  :  “There  are  many 

1  Vol.  II,  p.  438,  of  his  Personal  Narrative. 

2  From  manuscript  copy  of  the  report  in  possession  of  the  writer. 

3  Production  of  the  Precious  Metals,  by  Blake,  p.  320. 

4  Senate  Mis.  Doc.  26,  30th  Cong.,  1st  sess. 

5  Commercial  Delations  for  1872,  p.  689. 


25 


good  mines  near  Alamos  owned  mostly  by  Englishmen,  and  150  to  200 
small  mines  partially  worked.”  There  are  large  mines  in  the  same  local¬ 
ity  now  owned  and  worked  by  Americans. 

Alamos  is  in  the  southern  part  of  Sonora,  and  (as  will  be  observed  by 
reference  to  the  map  of  Mexican  railways)  is  the  northern  terminus  of 
one  branch  of  the  Topolobampo  line. 

In  1873  the  official  representative  of  the  United  States  residing  at 
Mazatlan  reported  as  follows  of  Sinaloa :  “  The  State,  we  may  say,  is 
literally  covered  with  silver  mines.  You  can  go  in  no  part  of  the  State 
but  that  mines  are  to  be  found.  During  the  last  year  three  scientific 
gentlemen  were  sent  to  Mexico  by  the  Prussian  Government  to  visit  and 
report  on  the  mines.  They  made  a  thorough  examination  of  all  the 
prominent  mining  districts  in  Mexico,  and  visited  Sinaloa  last.  They 
told  me  that  their  report  would  be,  that  what  is  called  the  Pacific  slope, 
the  west  side  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains,  would  be  the  great  mining 
silver  mart  of  the  world  for  the  next  hundred  years.  This  range  of 
mountains  runs  the  whole  length  of  the  State  of  Sinaloa — about  400 
miles. 1 

Hon.  Camilo  Vega,  member  of  the  Mexican  Congress  from  the  State 
of  Sinaloa,  writes :  “  At  Bacubrito,  district  of  Sinaloa,  begins  an 

auriferous  zone  which,  in  some  parts,  measures  from  thirty  to  forty 
miles  in  width,  for  a  distance  of  over  one  hundred  miles  across  the 
Euerte  district,  as  far  as  El  Sabino  Cuate,  the  boundary  line  be¬ 
tween  the  States  of  Sinaloa  and  Sonora.  Many  places  in  that  zone, 
as  Bacubrito,  San  Jose  de  Gracia,  Yecorato,  Minitas,  Bealito,  Sabino 
Cuate,  Las  Papas,  and  Cieneguitas,  have  yielded  immense  quantities  of 
placer  and  mine  gold.  From  time  to  time  real  bonanzas  have  been 
struck  in  some  of  these  places,  owing  to  large  extractions  of  gold  which 
have  been  coined  at  the  Culiacan  and  Alamos  Mint,  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  gold  was  sent  abroad  without  being  reported. 
In  some  of  these  places  grains  of  pure  native  gold  of  large  size  have 
been  found,  never  seen  equalled  until  the  great  California  bonanza  came 
before  the  public.” 

In  1868,  J.  Boss  Browne,  who  was  the  first  U.  S.  Commissioner  of 
Mining  Statistics,  wrote  :  “  Durango  is  very  rich  in  silver,  but  its  wealth 
was  not  known  until  just  before  the  revolution,  and  there  has  been  com¬ 
paratively  little  exploration  since.  The  State,  like  Sonora  and  Chihuahua, 
has  suffered  severely  from  Apache  incursions.  The  city  of  Durango,  one 
hundred  and  ninety-five  miles  northwest  of  Zacatecas,  had  only  eight 

1  Commercial  Relations  for  1873,  p.  839. 


26 


thousand  inhabitants  in  1783  ;  but  in  that  year  Zambrano,  the  great  miner 
of  that  region,  discovered  the  mines  of  Guarisamey,  and  Duraugo  soon 
trebled  its  population.  In  twenty-four  years  he  extracted  $30,000,000 
from  his  claims ;  and  a  multitude  of  mines  were  opened,  so  that  the 
average  yield  of  the  State  was  estimated  to  be  $5,000,000.”  1 

In  1859,  Charles  Sevin,  F.  R.  G  S.,  on  his  return  from  Mexico,  where 
he  had  been  to  see  “  how  far  the  mineral  wealth  of  these  regions  can  be 
worked  to  advantage  with  English  capital,”  read  before  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  of  London  a  very  valuable  paper  on  the  Mexican 
mines,  in  which  he  said  of  Santa  Eulalia,  in  the  State  of  Chihuahua:  “In 
a  space  of  two  square  leagues  all  the  mountains  of  Santa  Eulalia  contain 
silver ;  more  than  two  hundred  mines  have  been  worked  in  these 
confines,  and  upwards  of  fifty  of  them  have  been  sunk  to  a  depth 
of  two  hundred  yards  Some  of  these  are  so  extensive  that  one 
whole  day  will  not  suffice  to  see  the  different  parts  of  one  alone. 
With  regard  to  the  immense  amount  of  silver  extracted  from  the 
mines  of  Santa  Eulalia  the  following  statements  will  be  found  interesting. 
At  the  most  flourishing  time  a  contribution  was  raised  of  two  grains  of 
silver  from  every  marc  extracted  for  the  purpose  of  building  two 
churches — one  at  the  city  of  Chihuahua,  the  other  at  Santa  Eulalia. 
They  were  built  in  a  few  years.  The  cost  of  that  of  Chihuahua  was 
$600,000  ;  of  that  of  Santa  Eulalia,  $150,000 — and  a  surplus  of  $150,- 
000  of  the  money  collected  in  this  manner  remained.  The  result  of  the 
contribution  therefore  amounted  to  $900,000,  which  corresponds  to  an 
amount  of  145,000  marcs  of  silver,  worth  at  the  real  value  of  that  metal 
$145,000,000,  extracted  from  the  mines  of  Santa  Eulalia  in  the  course  of 
a  few  years.  It  cannot  be  supposed  that  the  produce  of  these  mines, 
rich  as  they  were  up  to  the  last  operations,  suddenly  stopped  by  the  ex¬ 
pulsion  of  the  Spaniards,  should  have  retained  the  same  ratio  at  all 
periods.  However,  the  whole  amount  of  silver  which  they  have  yielded, 
though  it  is  to  be  divided  over  a  number  of  about  one  hundred  and 
thirty  years,  will  be  found  very  great.  In  the  year  1833  a  census  of 
this  whole  amount  was  made,  and  it  was  found  to  have  been  43,000,000 
marcs  of  silver,  or  $430,000,000.” 2  The  Company’s  branch  line  to  Pre¬ 
sidio  del  Norte  goes  near  Santa  Eulalia. 

Baron  Humboldt,  who  is  universally  recognized  as  the  leading  author¬ 
ity  on  the  mineral  resources  of  Mexico,  says  that  native  silver  “  has  been 
found  in  considerable  masses,  sometimes  weighing  more  than  two  hun- 

1  Resources  of  the  Pacific  States,  by  J.  Ross  Browne,  p.  648. 

2  Jour,  of  Royal  Geog.  Soc.  for  1860,  p.  33. 


27 


dred  kilogrammes,1  in  the  seams  of  Batopilas,  ’  in  the  State  of  Chihua¬ 
hua.2  The  Company’s  main  line  passes  near  Batopilas. 

George  W.  Simmons,  Jr.,  one  of  the  expedition  which  recently  crossed 
Northern  Mexico  in  behalf  of  the  Topolobampo  Company,  says  in  his 
report  on  the  reconnoissance :  “  Whatever  direction  our  road  may  take 
across  the  mountain,  it  will  be  impossible  to  cut  its  path  without  making 
valuable  mineral  discoveries.”  *  *  *  “  The  road  will  pass  through 

what  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  richest  mineral  belt  in  Mexico.  The 
mines  already  discovered  would  certainly  pay  to-day  the  interest  on  a 
large  capital,  and  ought  to  furnish  business  enough  to  support  the  entire 
road.  When  it  is  remembered  that  this  section  is  barely  prospected,  that 
a  thousand  mines  will  be  worked  within  a  short  time  where  one  is  worked 
to-day,  and  that  every  mining  camp  will  form  a  town,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  the  enthusiasm  of  all  who  have  visited  this  portion  of  the 
route  and  speak  of  it  from  experience.”  3 

John  E.  Price,  Esq.,  one  of  the  same  party,  says  in  his  report :  “  The 
immense  yield  of  the  Mexican  mines  makes  it  undeniable  that  some  of 
the  largest  and  richest  mineral  deposits  in  the  world  are  there.  The  pro¬ 
posed  route  of  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  Bailway  will  pass 
through  one  of  the  richest  regions  of  the  Bepublic,  and  when  the  grading 
for  it  is  being  done  many  valuable  properties  will  be  unearthed.  Bato¬ 
pilas,  Urique,  Bosario,  Parral,  Santa  Bosa,  and  many  other  celebrated 
districts  are  upon  or  near  the  proposed  route.”4 

The  celebrated  Sierra  Majada  mines,  whose  discovery  in  1879  created 
great  excitement  throughout  Mexico,  and  attracted  many  thousand 
miners,  are  also  near  the  line  of  the  road,  being  at  the  junction  of  the 
States  of  Coahuila,  Chihuahua,  and  Durango. 

On  the  above  stated  theory  that  one  good  developed  mine  is  in  value 
to  a  railway  the  equivalent  of  a  city  of  at  least  ten  thousand  people,  the 
Topolobampo  line  and  branches  will  soon  be  as  thickly  dotted  with 
mining  equivalents  as  the  New  York  Central  Bailway  is  with  commer¬ 
cial  cities  and  villages.  For  this  reason  alone  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  the 
railway  will  receive  an  immense  and  lucrative  local  patronage. 

1  444  lbs. 

2  Humboldt’s  New  Spain,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  157. 

3  Reports  of  George  Simmons,  Jr.,  Dr.  B.  R.  Carman,  and  John  E.  Price,  Esq., 
upon  the  Topolobampo  Railway  route,  pp.  12  and  21. 

4  Ditto,  pp.  40-11. 


VI. 


TRIBUTARY  COAL  AND  IRON. 

Coal  Fields  of  Northern  Mexico. 

IN  some  recent  editorial  comments  on  the  coal  deposits  of  Mexico,  the 
Springfield  (Mass.)  Republican  contained  the  following:  “  The  dis¬ 
covery  of  coal  in  Mexico  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  success  and  failure  of 
current  railroad  enterprises  which  are  endeavoring  to  annex  Mexico  to 
the  railroad  system  of  the  United  States.  With  coal  at  hand  they  may 
succeed  ;  without  it,  a  period  of  disastrous  liquidation  is  in  store  for 
them.” 

Scarcity  of  fuel  may  be  an  obstacle  to  the  financial  success  of  one  or 
two  of  the  many  railways  projected  in  Mexico,  but  this  difficulty  cannot 
apply  to  the  Topolbampo  route  across  the  Northern  States  of  that  country. 

The  road  commences  at  Piedras  Negras,  which  very  name  (black-stone) 
indicates  a  deposit  of  coal.  In  the  report  upon  the  preliminary  survey 
of  this  route,  Mr.  Simmons  says  that  at  Santa  Rosa  “  two  mines  on  a 
7-foot  vein  were  bonded.”  Also  :  “Later,  at  Piedras  Negras,  we  heard 
of  many  other  coal  properties,  and  on  the  American  side,  at  Eagle  Pass, 
very  important  coal  discoveries  had  recently  been  made.  The  question 
of  a  coal  supply  was  forever  settled.  As  an  evidence  of  its  abundance  I 
may  state  that  200  engines,  originally  ordered  as  wood-burners  by  the 
Mexican  Central  Railroad,  have  recently  been  changed  to  coal-burners. 
A  proposition  to  control  the  coal  production  of  this  section  was  intro¬ 
duced  in  a  scheme  to  unite  all  the  Mexican  holders  of  these  properties 
in  one  company,  which  should  transfer  its  interests  to  ours  for  the  sake 
of  development.  Authority  was  left  with  the  Mexican  consul  at  Eagle 
Pass  to  consult  with  the  proprietors  and  perfect  the  arrangements  of 
this  plan.” 

In  his  report  upon  the  same  survey,  Mr.  Price  testifies  to  a  similar 
effect  concerning  the  deposit  near  Santa  Rosa,  viz  :  “  Near  this  place  are 
situated  some  of  the  largest  coal  mines  in  Mexico — several  of  which  are 
being  worked  — one  to  a  depth  of  220  feet.  The  width  of  the  veins  is 
from  4  to  6  feet,  and  can  be  traced  for  miles  upon  the  surface.  The 
character  of  the  coal  is  bituminous  and  in  perpendicular  veins.  It  is 

/  28 


29 


easily  coked,  and  a  great  deal  is  now  used  at  the  smelters  of  the  silver 
mines  located  near  them.” 

On  this  subject  a  very  useful  paper  was  presented  at  the  annual  meet¬ 
ing  of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  in  Washington,  D 
C.,  February,  1882. 

W.  H.  Adams,  Mining  Engineer,  who  had  recently  visited  the  Santa 
Rosa  District  of  Northern  Mexico,  said  as  follows  : 

“  I  doubt  if  many  of  our  engineers  know  of  the  existence  of  coal  fields 
extending  over  many  hundreds  of  miles  of  territory  bordering  on  and  lying 
contiguous  to  the  Rio  Grande  river  in  Mexico.  Essential  as  these  facts  are 
to  those  contemplating  the  starting  of  industrial  works  along  our  fron¬ 
tiers,  yet  I  have  not  been  able  to  learn  of  any  surveys  or  examinations 
being  made  of  these  deposits,  and  I  trust  the  preliminary  and  unofficial 
investigations  made  by  myself  of  late  may  be  found  of  interest,  especially 
to  those  of  our  members  whose  experience  has  been  with  poor  fuel,  or 
in  districts  remote  from  railway  facilities.” 

“  Fortunately  for  metallurgists,  who  will  hereafter  make  this  frontier 
a  base  of  operations,  there  has  been  disclosed,  near  to  the  surface,  seem¬ 
ingly  inexhaustible  beds  of  semi-anthracite  and  bituminous  coals. 

“  No  extensive  openings  have  as  yet  been  made,  and  my  own  work¬ 
ings  at  the  Cedral  mines  are  all  that  can  yet  be  said  to  prove  the  quan¬ 
tity  and  quality  of  the  cpal,  other  openings  furnishing  corroborative  evi¬ 
dence.  Our  location  (one  hundred  and  ten  miles  west  of  the  Rio  Grande 
river)  is  on  the  western  line  of  the  depository  basin,  as  existing  since 
the  period  of  activity  along  the  volcanic  line.  Farther  inland  I  have  not 
examined,  but  much  greater  elevations  are  the  rule,  which,  however, 
from  the  nature  of  their  formation,  are  not  necessarily  barren  ground. 

“  Beginning  at  the  base  of  the  Santa  Rosa  Mountains  (location  of  the 
Cedral  mines)  we  find  very  interesting  breaks  in  the  foot-hills,  disclosing 
the  stratified  rocks  from  the  volcanic  centres  to  the  valleys.”  *  *  * 

“  From  their  nearness  to  the  coal  measures,  the  mountains,  which  are 
protruded  into  the  plains  at  this  particular  point,  offer  a  great  novelty 
in  producing  vertical  veins  of  coal  nearly  anthracitic  in.  character,  which 
I  have  opened  to  a  depth  of  240  feet.  Coal  of  a  more  bituminous  nature 
is  found  outcropping  on  the  rivers  thirty,  forty,  sixty  miles  to  the  east¬ 
ward,  and  lignites  in  many  places  over  a  wide  extent  of  country  drained 
by  the  Rio  Grande.  The  inference  is  that  the  heat  which  changed  the 
metamorphic  rocks  drove  off  the  bitumen,  and  that  the  nearer  one  ap¬ 
proaches  the  mountain  line  the  better  is  the  product.” 

*  *  *  *  * 


30 


“  To  the  eastward,  breaks  in  the  horizontal  strata  disclose  sandstone, 
shales,  fuller’s-earth,  grit-stones,  etc.,  while  surface  openings  at  several 
points  along  the  Sabinas  river,  above  ordinary  water  level,,  show  veins 
of  coal  of  good  workable  thickness  and  excellent  quality.  The  amount 
of  sulphur  contained  in  the  coal  is  considerable,  and  finely  disseminated, 
but  not  so  great  as  to  require  a  washing  operation. 

“  Passing  farther  to  the  east,  openings  have  been  made  about  Eagle 
Pass,  in  a  circuit  of  twenty  miles  in  Mexico,  and  notably  at  the  mouth 
of  Seco  Creek.  Surface  indications  are,  however,  observable  over  the 
plains  at  numberless  points  between  mountain-chain  and  river.  At 
Eagle  Pass  the  Permian  system  undoubtedly  commences,  the  gray  and 
green-white  sandstone  showing  itself  in  the  bed  of  the  river,  and  at 
several  places  along  the  Rio  Grande  river  the  opportunities  for  observa¬ 
tion  are  equally  perfect.  Here  the  character  of  the  coal  changes,  and 
lower  grades  of  bituminous  coal  and  shales  are  found  in  wide  veins,  but 
so  mixed  with  clay  and  grit  as  to  be  of  little  value  commercially,  so  far 
as  yet  developed.  I  cannot  believe  these  beds  to  be  brown  coal  or 
lignites,  as  generally  stated,  the  geological  formation  being  certainly  too 
old  for  lignite  ;  and  although  we  have  examples  of  good  coal  in  the 
Tertiary,  I  know  of  no  evidence  of  the  presence  of  lignites  in  the  Per¬ 
mian. 

“  Down  the  river  more  recent  formations  outcrop,  and  in  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  of  San  Antonio  the  true  brown  coals  of  woody  texture  are  found. 
Without  a  knowledge  of  the  lines  of  upheaval,  which  are  generally  easily 
traceable,  the  casual  observer  would  not  note  that  Eagle  Pass  is,  say, 
500  feet  higher  than  San  Antonio,  with  all  the  strata  inclining  towards 
the  latter,  showing  the  coals  of  Eagle  Pass  to  belong  to  an  older  period. 

“  The  future  commercial  value  of  this  basin  of  coal  (which  underlies  one 
of  the  richest  agricultural  districts  of  Northern  Mexico,  and  adjoins  a 
mineral  chain  of  known  large  extent  and  exceptionable  richness,)  is  yet 
to  be  determined.  At  present  my  own  work  is  upon  the  upheaval  veins? 
and  being  preparatory  only,  differs  in  no  way  from  perpendicular  vein- 
work  of  any  character.  The  coal  cokes  easily,  producing  about  60  per 
cent,  in  weight  of  good  coke,  and  while  I  am  not  now  prepared  to  give 
details  of  analyses,  yet  the  extended  underground  workings  and  the 
new  bank  of  fifty  ovens  to  be  erected  this  spring  will  furnish,. I  trust,  a 
practical  demonstration,  which  I  shall  be  pleased  to  show  to  travellers.'' 

The  very  great  importance  of  the  coal  basin  here  described  will  be  ap¬ 
preciated  when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  it  spreads  out  in  fan  shape  south 
of  the  point  where  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  Railway  enters 
Mexican  territory. 


31 


Extensive  coal  fields  are  also  to  be  found  in  the  State  of  Sonora,  north 
of  the  western  division  of  the  Topolobampo  route.  They  are  thus  edi¬ 
torially  described  in  the  Two  Rejmblics  of  the  City  of  Mexico,  under 
date  of  June  26,  1881 :  “  Great  fields  of  anthracite  coal  have  lately  been 
opened  in  Sonora.  They  are  said  to  rival  the  anthracite  coals  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania  in  quality,  and  to  extend  in  one  section  of  Sonora  over  a  surface 
twenty  miles  in  length  and  two  miles  in  width.  Only  two  of  the  veins 
have  been  worked  so  far,  and  they  show  a  width  of  ten  and  seven  feet, 
respectively,  all  of  the  purest  anthracite,  the  upper  one  forming  the 
slope  of  a  hill,  being  covered  only  with  a  few  feet  of  earth,  and  under¬ 
laid  twelve  feet  distant  by  the  second  bed  of  equal  quality.  They  are 
developed  by  drifts  in  the  coal,  which  place  at  least  one  million  tons  in 
sight.  The  importance  of  these  coal  beds  cannot  be  over-estimated.” 

At  Chois,  near  the  point  where  the  Company’s  fine  enters  the  Cordil¬ 
lera,  there  are  coal  indicatioijs  reported. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  discoveries  are  the  result  of  very 
imperfect  exploration.  When  Northern  Mexico  is  carefully  searched  for 
this  purpose  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  very  many  more  deposits  of  coal 
will  be  found. 

Coal  Fields  of  Texas. 

In  Texas,  also,  there  is  an  extensive  deposit  of  coal,  almost  at  the 
starting  point  of  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  line.  It  is  located 
along  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande,  southeast  of  Eagle  Pass,  and  above 
Laredo.  It  is  described  in  the  Galveston  News  of  April  12,  1882,  as 
follows : 

“  Within  less  than  one  hundred  feet  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  just 
twenty  miles  above  Laredo,  is  graded  one  section  of  the  Rio  Grande 
and  Pecos  road,  and  immediately  over  the  road-bed  a  coal  shute  is  con¬ 
structed  that  is  intended  to  deliver  the  coal  directly  into  the  cars.  At 
this  time  it  is  emptied  into  wagons  at  the  rate  of  thirty  tons  per  day. 
Ascending  a  ladder  to  a  height  of  thirty  feet,  the  top  of  this  shute  is 
reached,  and  from  here  a  tiny  railroad  stretches  to  the  mouth  of  a  tun¬ 
nel  entering  the  towering  gray  hill  to  the  south  at  a  distance  of  200  feet. 
We  noticed  at  its  entrance  a  seam  of  coal  three  feet  in  thickness,  over 
and  underlaid  by  a  stratum  of  shale  and  slate  of  an  average  thickness 
above  and  below  of  some  three  or  four  feet.  Enteiing  this  tunnel,  one 
hour  was  spent  in  exploring  the  coal  seam  it  has  developed,  and  here 
follows  what  was  seen : 

“  The  main  tunnel,  which  is  seven  feet  high  and  seven  feet  wide,  has 
been  opened  to  a  distance  by  actual  measurement,  650  feet,  along  which 


32 


every  30  feet  tunnels  of  the  same  size  have  been  opened  both  to  the 
right  and  left  for  a  distance  of  150  feet,  many  of  which  have  been 
widened  into  rooms  twenty  feet  wide,  leaving  the  customary  pillars  of 
ten  feet  to  support  the  roof.  At  a  distance  of  300  feet  from  the  mouth 
an  air-shaft  is  opened  from  one  of  these  wide  tunnels  twelve  feet  square 
to  the  top  of  the  hill,  800  feet,  which  secures  a  perfect  ventilation  of  the 
mine.  Along  the  main  tunnel  its  whole  distance,  650  feet,  as  well  as  to 
the  end  of  all  side  tunnels,  is  laid  an  iron  track  upon  which  the  coal  cars, 
drawn  by  mules,  enter  the  mines  and  carry  out  the  coal.  By  actual 
measurement  the  thickness  of  the  vein,  which,  at  the  opening  of  the  mine, 
was  but  three  feet,  has  increased  to  four  feet  at  the  present  terminus  of 
the  tunnel,  and  the  coal  seam,  which  was  slightly  mixed  with  foreign 
matter  at  the  surface,  has  continued  to  improve  until  the  vein  at  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  less  than  fifty  feet  from  the  opening  has  become  a  solid  mass 
of  cannel  coal  of  the  finest  quality.  The  coal  is  got  out  by  digging  away 
the  slate  and  shale  from  beneath  it,  and  then  blasting  it  down  with  pow¬ 
der  ;  pieces  weighing  a  half  ton  frequently  being  blown  down,  which 
have  to  be  broken  up  to  load  on  the  coal  cars.  The  dip  of  this  vein,  as 
far  as  worked,  averages  six  inches  to  the  one  hundred  feet,  and  the  vein 
runs  from  northwest  to  southeast.  All  indications  go  to  show  that  the 
vein  is,  comparatively  speaking,  inexhaustible.  Its  outcroppings  along 
the  banks  of  the  Bio  Grande  demonstrate  that  the  vein  is  at  least  twenty 
miles  wide,  and  throughout  the  thousands  of  feet  of  side  tunnels  opened 
in  the  mines  the  vein  never  shows  any  weak  points.” 

Coal  Fields  of  Alabama  and  Georgia. 

The  railway  lines  which  supplement  the  Mexican  Pacific,  and  connect 
it  with  the  Atlantic  seaboard  at  Fernandina,  Florida,  and  Brunswick? 
Georgia,  are  also  well  supplied  with  tributary  coal  fields.  In  support 
of  this  assertion  we  quote  from  a  recent  interview  in  the  Atlanta  Con¬ 
stitution  of  Mr.  J.  C.  Kimball,  a  prominent  coal  dealer  of  that  city.  He 
says : 

“To  the  general  reader,  as  I  wrote  once  in  an  article  in  the  Industrial 
Review ,  the  coal  supply  of  the  South  is  a  sealed  book.  Writers  have 
regarded  us,  or  our  supply,  as  of  too  little  consequence  to  demand 
serious  attention.  Even  Appleton’s  Encyclopaedia  gives  us  but  a  pass¬ 
ing  notice  in  half  a  dozen  lines,  and  yet  we  have  in  the  four  States  tying 
immediately  south  of  the  Ohio  river,  namely,  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
Georgia,  and  Alabama,  nearly  15,000  square  miles  of  territory  rich  in 
thick  veins  of  the  finest  bituminous  coal  in  the  country,  more  than  four 
times  the  area  of  the  celebrated  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  and  twenty 


33 


times  the  area  of  the  coal  deposits  of  the  six  New  England  States.” 
*  *  *  « rphe  Apalachian  coal  field,  covering  nearly  four  degrees 

of  longitude  in  Ohio,  contracts  rapidly  as  it  runs  southward  through 
Eastern  Kentucky,  but  broadens  out  again  in  Tennessee  and  Alabama. 
In  these  latter  States  the  coal  deposits  cover  an  area  of  over  nine  thou¬ 
sand  square  miles,  stretching  across  the  entire  State  of  Tennessee  with 
a  varying  width  of  from  50  to  70  miles,  taking  in  the  northwest  corner 
of  Georgia,  and  expanding  into  a  heart-shaped  area  in  Alabama,  over 
100  miles  in  width,  terminating  in  the  central  portion  of  the  State,  near 
Tuscaloosa.” 

*  *  *  “In  Georgia  the  coal  beds  have  developed  only  at  one 

point,  namely,  in  Dade  county,  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  State, 
where  are  located  the  Dade  and  Castle  Rock  mines.”  *  *  *  “Of 
the  immense  coal  fields  of  Alabama  I  may  say  a  few  words.  Cov¬ 
ering  an  area  of  more  than  4,000  square  miles,  these  beds  alone  contain 
coal  enough  to  supply  the  entire  country  for  a  century.  The  beds  are 
divided  into  three  sections  known  as  the  Warrior,  Cooke,  and  Cahaba 
fields.  South  of  the  Warrior,  on  the  Coosa  river,  are  extensive  beds  of 
coal  known  as  the  Coosa  fields,  which  have  been  little  developed  for 
want  of  transportation.  At  the  southern  extremity  of  the  coal  belt,  in 
the  central  portion  of  the  State,  are  located  the  Cahaba  fields,  rather 
small  in  area,  but  producing  a  quality  of  coal  that  is  not  surpassed  for 
domestic  uses  by  any  bituminous  coal  in  the  world.  The  most  exten¬ 
sive  mine  in  this  region  is  the  Montevallo,  on  the  line  of  the  Selma, 
Rome  and  Dalton  Railroad,  about  20  miles  southwest  from  Calera,  the 
juuction  of  the  Selma  and  Nashville  railroads  of  Alabama”  *  *  * 

“  The  opening  of  the  new  roads  now  in  process  of  construction  will  result 
in  the  rapid  development  of  those  extensive  coal  fields,  and  the  compe¬ 
tition  both  in  production  and  freights  is  sure  to  give  us  coal  so  cheap 
that  it  will  induce  investment  of  capital  in  extensive  manufacturing 
industries.” 

Iron  of  Northern  Mexico. 

In  the  State  south  of  the  Topolobampo  route,  near  the  city  of  Du¬ 
rango,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  deposits  of  iron  ore  upon  the  face 
of  the  earth — so  remarkable,  indeed,  that  if  the  report  of  its  existence 
was  not  confirmed  by  abundance  of  reliable  testimony,  the  reader  might 
find  cause  for  doubt.  In  an  elaborate  letter  to  the  St.  Louis  Republi¬ 
can,  under  date  of  May  4,  1881,  its  special  correspondent  wrote  as  fol¬ 
lows  :  “  About  a  mile  north  of  Durango  is  a  wonderful  mountain  of 
solid  iron  ore,  called  the  Cerro  del  Mercado.  The  ore  is  said  to  be  en- 


34 


tirely  free  from  phosphor  and  sulphur,  and  to  assay  from  50  to  75  per 
cent,  of  pure  iron.  That  part  of  the  mountain  above  the  ground  meas¬ 
ures  5,250  feet  long,  1,200  feet  broad,  and  702  feet  high.  The  iron 
produced  is  so  soft  that  it  bends  and  twists  like  wax,  and  will  bear  com¬ 
parison  with  the  best  Norway.  An  English  engineer  has  estimated  its 
value  at  $10,000,000,000,  and  made  the  somewhat  astonishing  calculation 
that  at  the  rate  of  one  million  tons  a  year  it  would  take  over  300  years 
to  level  the  hill  to  the  ground.” 

Ward,  the  official  representative  of  Great  Britain  in  Mexico,  in  1827 
said  of  this  deposit :  “  Iron  abounds  within  a  quarter  of  a  league  of  the 
gates  of  Durango.  The  Cerro  del  Mercado  is  entirely  composed  erf  iron 
ores  of  two  distinct  qualities,  (crystalized  and  magnetic,)  but  almost 
equally  rich,  as  they  both  contain  from  sixty  to  seventy-five  per  cent,  of 
pure  iron.” 

It  has  recently  attracted  the  attention  of  a  writer  in  Harper's  Monthly , 
who,  in  an  article  on  the  railways  of  Mexico  in  the  number  for  July  of 
1881,  says  of  it  in  connection  with  the  coal  deposits  of  Sonora,  as  fol¬ 
lows  :  “  These,  and  the  great  iron  mountain  near  the  city  of  Durango, 
which  is  a  solid  mass  of  rich  ore,  seven-eighths  of  a  mile  long,  360  yards 
wide,  and  210  yards  in  height,  may  prove  sources  of  greater  wealth  than 
the  richest  silver  mines.” 

Another  remarkable  deposit  of  iron  may  be  found  near  the  line  of  the 
road  in  the  State  of  Goahuila.  Col.  Von  Motz,  one  of  the  engineers  of 
the  Company,  who  has  recently  returned  from  a  survey  of  the  line,  thus 
describes  it :  “  Thirty  miles  due  north  from  the  Laguna  de  Jaco  a  solid 
deposit  of  magnetic  iron  is  reported,  having  the  Same  formation  and 
facility  for  working  as  the  known  “  Cerro  del  Mercado,”  near  Durongo. 
An  early  examination  of  this  deposit  is  strongly  recommended,  as  in  I 
combination  with  the  coal  of  the  Santa  Rosa  district  large  industries 
might  be  started.”  ^ 

Iron  of  Alabama  and  Georgia. 

Alabama  : — In  Appleton’s  annual  Cyclopaedia  for  1881  is  the  following  ! 
general  statement  concerning  the  iron  deposits  of  Alabama  :  “  The  sup-  I 
ply  of  coal  and  iron  in  the  State  is  comparatively  inexhaustible.  During 
the  last  ten  years  the  iron  industry  has  increased  about  700  per  cent.” 

The  product  of  pig-iron  of  this  State  in  1881  was  98,000  tons. 

The  New  Orleans  Times- Democrat  of  March  5,  1883,  has  an  elaborate 
and  comprehensive  review  of  the  iron  deposits  and  industries  of  Alabama, 
from  which  we  quote  briefly  as  follows,  after  describing  the  Black  ! 
Warrior,  Coosa,  and  Cahaba  coal-fields,  it  says  :  “  In  immediate  con- 


35 


nection  with  these  coal  beds  are  found  the  great  iron  mines  of  Alabama. 
These  mines  are  often  in  great  mounds  on  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
having  a  height  of  150  feet  of  iron  ore  containing  60  per  cent,  of  metallic 
iron.  Yorkshire,  England,  has  heretofore  been  considered  the  cheapest 
place  in  the  world  for  the  manufacture  of  iron,  but  their  coal  lies  20  miles 
distant  from  the  mine.  In  Alabama  they  are  often  found  less  than  half 
a  mile  apart,  and  frequently  even  closer.  The  cost  of  manufacturing  iron 
in  Alabama,  even  with  very  crude  methods,  is  not  quite  as  great  as  it  is 
in  Yorkshire,  so  that  without  a  tariff  of  any  kind  Alabama  iron  can  be 
put  in  the  American  market  at  a  less  cost  than  the  Yorkshire  iron,  even 
though  there  were  no  expense  of  transportation  or  handling  against  it.” 

After  describing  the  remarkable  growth  of  that  great  iron  centre  of 
the  State — Birmingham — the  article  continues  as  follows :  “  Its  principal 
commercial  attractions  are  its  vast  and  apparently  inexhaustible  coal  and 
iron  ores  which  stretch  over  35  of  the  northern  and  northwestern  coun¬ 
ties  and  sink  to  a  maximum  vertical  depth  of  about  25  feet.  One  mile 
southeast  of  the  city  lies  Red  mountain,  which  contains,  both  as  to 
quality  and  accessibility,  the  most  remarkable  deposit  of  iron  ore  yet 
known.  The  Alabama  Great  Southern  railroad  runs  parallel  with  this 
mountain.  Red,  brown,  and  fossiliferous  ores  exist.  The  average  per 
cent,  of  iron  by  analytical  test  is  50  per  cent.  The  red  ore  on  this  moun¬ 
tain  is  now  being  mined.  Red  ore  is  delivered  at  75  cents  per  ton,  and 
brown  ore  from  $1.50  to  $2  per  ton.” 

Georgia : — The  product  of  pig  iron  in  this  State  in  1881  was  37,000 
tons.  A  recent  “  Manual  of  Georgia,”  by  Dr.  Janes,  Commissioner  of 
Agriculture,  says  of  its  iron  deposits :  “  Iron  ores,  either  hematite, 
limonite,  or  fossiliferous,  are  abundant  throughout  the  northern  part  of 
the  State,  and  found  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the  counties  of  Harris 
and  Talbot,  in  Middle  Georgia,  and  in  Burke,  of  the  Southern  division. 

In  the  counties  of  Dade,  Walker,  and  Chattooga,  it  lies  side  by  side 
with  large  deposits  of  coal,  thus  affording  ample  facilities  for  smelting. 
In  Barton  county  we  find  the  best  brown  hematite,  which,  in  combina¬ 
tion  with  manganese,  also  abundant  in  that  section,  forms  that  beautiful 
mirror-like  iron,  called  by  the  Germans  Spegelcisen.  The  brown  hema¬ 
tite  is  also  abundant  in  Polk  county.  At  the  date  of  the  last  report 
there  were  in  the  State  20  iron  foundries,  with  a  producing  capacity  of 
300  tons  per  day,  and  100,000  tons  of  pig-iron  per  annum.” 


VII. 


TRIBUTARY  FORESTS. 


IT  would  be  difficult  to  find  upon  a  map  of  this  or  any  other  country  a 
railway  destined  to  have  so  large  a  transportation  business  in  timber 
and  its  manufactures  as  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific,  projected 
through  the  magnificent  and  almost  untouched  pineries  in  the  Gulf 
States.  The  map  on  the  following  page  gives  a  bird’s  eye  view  of  this 
continuous  forest.  But  let  us  examine  the  facts  and  figures  as  recently 
given  by  Prof.  Sargeant  in  the  forestry  bulletins  of  the  new  census. 


In  Florida. 

In  Florida  the  estimated  amount  of  merchantable  long-leaved  pine 
standing  May  31,  1880,  was  as  follows : 


Counties. 

±\o.  ojjeei 
(, board-measure .) 

Alachua . 

.  525,  000,  000 

Baker . 

144, 000,  000 

Bradford . 

.  138, 000, 000 

Brevard . 

63,000,000 

Calhoun . 

81,000,000 

Clay . . 

77,000,000 

Columbia . 

.  455,  000,  000 

Duval . 

67,  000,  000 

Escambia . . 

90,  000, 000 

Hamilton . 

311,000,000 

Hernando . 

.  142,  000, 000 

Hillsboro . 

.  162, 000, 000 

Holmes . 

150, 000,  000 

Jackson . 

.  233, 000,  000 

Jefferson . 

23, 000, 000 

Lafayette . 

425,000,000 

Levy . 

.  346,  000,  000 

Liberty . . 

75, 000, 000 

Madison . 

.  122,  000, 000 

Counties. 

Jyo.  ojjeet 
(board-measure .) 

Manatee . 

Marion . 

.  315, 000. 000 

Nassau . 

104, 000,  000 

Orange . 

87,  000,  000 

Polk . 

.  210, 000, 000 

Putnam . 

121, 000, 000 

St.  John’s . 

66,000,000 

Santa  Rosa . 

.  213, 000, 000 

Sumter . 

.  103,000.000 

Suwannee . 

.  622.000,000 

Taylor . 

218, 000, 000 

Volusia .  . 

Wakulla . 

72,  000, 000 

Walton . 

.  409, 000, 000 

Washington . . 

187, 000,  000 

Total .  6,615,000,000 


Cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31,  1881,  (excluding  77,500,000 
feet,  estimated,  grown  in  Alabama  and  sawed  in  western 
Florida) .  208,  054,  000  I 

In  this  estimate  no  account  is  made  of  timber  remaining  on  lands  which  have  been 
cut  over,  or  of  that  injured  by  the  manufacture  of  turpentine. 

The  long-leaved  pine  forests  of  central  and  southern  Florida  are  less  heavy  than  I 

36 


vestorv 


TENN. 


37 


those  of  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  and  south  of  latitude  29°  N.  are  of  little  pres¬ 
ent  commercial  value,  although  included  in  this  estimate. 


In  Georgia. 

In  Georgia  the  estimated  amount  of  merchantable  long-leaved  pine 
standing  May  31,  1880,  was  as  follows : 


Counties. 

No.  of  feet 
{board  measure  ) 

.  Counties. 

Appling . 

543, 000,  000 

j  Liberty . 

Baker . 

134,  000,  000 

Lowndes . 

Baldwin . 

35,000,000 

McDuffie . 

Berrien . 

410, 000, 000 

McIntosh . 

Bibb . 

38,  000,  000 

!  Macon . 

Brooks  . 

.  281,  000,  000 

Miller . 

Bryan . 

Mitchell . 

Bulloch . 

!  Monroe . 

Burke . 

298,  000,  000 

!  Montgomery . 

Calhoun . 

Muscogee . 

Camden . 

82,  000,  000 

Paulding . 

Charlton . 

246,000,000 

Pierce . 

Clay . 

Polk . 

Clinch . 

350,000,000 

1  Pulaski . 

Coffee . 

578,  000,  000 

I  Randolph . 

Colquitt  . 

339,  000, 000 

Richmond . 

Crawford . 

45,  000,  000 

i  Schley . 

Decatur . 

653,  000,  000 

Screven . 

Dodge . 

417,  000,  000 

Sumter . 

Dooley . 

Talbot . 

Dougherty . 

90, 000, 000 

Taylor . 

Early . 

Tattnall . 

Echols . 

Telfair . 

Effingham . 

6,  000,  000 

Terrell . 

Emanuel . 

Thomas . 

Eloyd . 

19,000,000 

Twiggs . 

Glascock . 

17.000,000 

Upson . 

Glynn .  . 

Ware.... 

Hancock . 

76,000.000 

Warren . 

Haralson . 

21,000,000 

Washington . 

Harris . 

Wayne . 

Houston . 

Webster . 

Irwin . 

Wilcox . 

Jefferson . 

Wilkinson . 

Johnson . 

Worth . 

Jones . 

Laurens . 

Total . 

Lee  . 

Cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31, 1880,  excluding  28,335,000  feet 


cut  in  the  region  of  short-leaved  pine  and  mixed  growth _ 


No.  of  feet 
( board  measure .) 

236,000,000 
236,000,  000 
10,  000,  000 
65, 000, 000 
52, 000, 000 
164, 000,  000 
379,  000, 000 
18,000,  000 
791, 000, 000 

35,  000,  000 

2,  000,  000 

220, 000, 000 

36,  000,  000 
408, 000, 000 
126, 000, 000 

21,000,000 
28, 000, 000 
188,  000,  000 
191, 000, 000 
44,  000,  000 
53, 000, 000 
768, 000, 000 
598, 000,  000 
104, 000, 000 
311,  000,  000 
84, 000,  000 
32,  000,  000 
161,000,  000 
80,  000,  000 
240,  000,  000 
160,  000,  000 
48,  000,  000 
292,  000,  000 
152,  000,  000 
512, 000, 000 


16,  778,  000,  000 


272,  743,000 


38 


These  estimates  include  merchantable  pine  still  standing  on  land  partially  cut  over, 
or  which  has  been  worked  in  the  manufacture  of  turpentine.  The  worked  areas  in¬ 
clude  nearly  all  the  regions  from  which  any  pine  has  been  removed,  and  extend 
beyond  them  in  all  directions  into  the  uncut  forest  and  along  rivers  and  railroads. 

In  Alabama. 

The  statistics  of  merchantable  long  and  short-leaved  pine  standing 
in  this  State  May  31,  1880,  are  as  follows : 

LONG-LEAVED  PINE. — (. Finns  australis.) 


Standing  Pine  in  Pine-belt  proper .  ,,  o.  oj  jee 

s  r  r  ( board  measure.) 

East  of  Perdido  river .  4,  055,  000,  000 

West  of  Perdido  river .  .  2. 000,  000,  000 

In  the  region  of  mixed  growth .  10,  000,  000,  000 

In  the  central  pine-belt .  1,  750,  000,  000 

In  the  Coosa  river  basin . .  900,  000,  000 

In  the  Walker  county  district .  .  .  180,  000,  000 


Total . . .  18.885,000,000 


Cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31,  1880  (including  77,  500,  000 
feet,  estimated,  grown  in  Alabama  and  sawed  in  western 
Florida) . . .  245,396,000 


In  this  estimate  no  account  is  made  of  small  timber  standing  on  some  1,  282,  000 
acres  which  have  been  cut  over,  and  from  which  the  merchantable  pine  has  been 
practically  removed,  or  on  600,  000  acres  injured  by  the  manufacture  of  turpentine. 

There  are  fewer  pine  trees  per  acre  in  the  region  of  mixed  growth  than  in  the 
pine-belt  proper,  which  it  adjoins  on  the  north,  but  the  individual  trees  being  larger, 
the  average  amount  of  standing  pine  per  acre  is  greater,  although  generally  of  poorer 
quality. 

SHORT-LEAVED  PINE. — (Pinus  vnitis.) 


Standing  pine  in  the  central  pine-belt . .  1,  875,  000,  (  00 

Standing  pine  in  the  Coosa  river  basin .  432,  000,  000 

Total .  2,  307,  000,  000 

ft 


Cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31,  1880,  none  reported. 


39 


In  Mississippi. 

In  Mississippi  the  amount  of  merchantable  long  and  short-leaved 
'pine  standing  May  31,  1880,  was  estimated  as  follows : 

LONG-LEAVED  PINE. — {Pinus  australis.') 

Standing  pine.  {board  mfafure.) 

Standing  pine  in  region  west  of  Pearl  river,  tributary  to  the  Chi¬ 
cago,  Saint  Louis,  and  New  Orleans  Railroad .  6,  800,  000,  000 

East  of  Pearl  river .  7,  600,  000, 000 

Region  of  mixed  growth,  exclusive  of  200,000  acres  injured  by  the 
manufacture  of  turpentine .  3,  800,  000,  000 

Total .  17,  200,  000,  000 

Cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31,  1880 .  108,  000,  000 

In  this  estimate  no  account  is  made  of  small  timber  standing  on  some  2,912,000 
acres  which  have  been  cut  over,  and  from  which  the  merchantable  pine  has  been 
practically  removed.  % 

The  region  of  mixed  growth,  which  adjoins  the  pine-belt  upon  the  north,  contains 
a  smaller  number  of  pine  trees  per  acre  than  the  pine-belt  proper,  but  the  individual 
trees  being  larger,  the  average  amount  of  standing  pine  per  acre  is  greater,  although 
generally  of  poorer  quality. 

SHORT-LEAVED  PINE. — ( Pinus  mitis.) 

Standing  pine.  ,  ^°J  °ffee^ 

*  ( board  measure .) 

Standing  pine  in  the  northeastern  belt .  1,  600,  000, 000 

Standing  pine  in  northern  region  of  mixed  growth .  5, 175,  000,  000 

Total .  6,775,000,00 

Cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31,  1880 .  7,  775,  000 


40 


In  Louisiana. 


In  Louisiana  the  estimate  of  merchantable  long  and  short-leaved  pine 
standing  May  31,  1880,  was  as  follows  : 


Parishes. 

Long-Leaved  Pine. 

( Finns  australis.') 

Short- Leaved  Pine. 

( Pinus  mitis.) 

No.  feet  ( board-meas .) 

416, 000,  000 

No.  feet  ( board-meas .) 

1,837,000.000 

1.574,000,000 

1.696,000,000 

Caddo . 

4, 219, 000, 000 
602,  000,  000 
1,508,000,000 

Caldwell . 

362, 000,  000 
304, 000, 000 
1,923,000,000 
1,971,000,000 
157, 000, 000 
886, 000, 000 

Claiborne . 

T)c  Soto . 

Bast,  Baton  Bonge . 

East  Feliciana . 

198, 000,  000 
1,574,000,000 
493,  000,  000 
300,  000,  000 

Grant . 

Jackson . . 

1, 670, 000, 000 

Livingston . 

Morebouse . 

797, 000,  000 
618, 000,  000 
1,126,000,000 

N  at'Oh  i  toch  cs . 

1,792,000,000 
16, 000,  000 

2,  422, 000,  000 

Ouachita . . . 

Kapides . 

Ked  River . 

643, 000, 000 
1.974, 000,000 

Sabine . 

598, 000,  000 
749,  000,  000 
579, 000,  000 
1,398,000,000 
1,537,000,000 

St.  Helena . 

St.  Landry . 

St.  Tammany . 

Tangipahoa . 

Union . 

2,  522,  000,  000 

Vernon . 

3,741,000,000 
1,734,000,  000 

"W  as  hi  n  gton . . . 

Webster . 

1,  443,  000^000 
122,  000,  000 

West  Feliciana . 

Winn . 

2,662,000,000 

Total . 

26, 588, 000, 000 

21,  625,  000,  000 

Cut  for  the  census  year  ending  May  31, 1880. 

61,882,000 

22,  709,  000 

41 


In  Texas. 

In  this  State  the  estimate  of  merchantable  long  and  short-leaved  and 
loblolly  pine  standing  May  31,  1880,  was  as  follows: 


Counties. 

Long-leaved  Pine. 

( Pinus  australis .) 

Short-leaved  Pine. 

( Pinus  mitis.) 

Loblolly  Pine. 
(Pinus  Tee  da.) 

No.  feet  ( board-meas .) 

No.  feet  ( board-meas .) 

336, 000,  000 

No.  feet  (board-meas.) 

1,763,  600,000 
1, 190,  400,  000 

1, 340, 800, 000 

2,380,800,000 
579, 200,  000 

2, 470, 400, 000 

2, 230, 400, 000 
448, 000,  000 
598,  400,  000 

585, 600, 000 

. 

211, 200, 000 
627,  200,  000 
1,  827,  200,  000 

1,244,800,000 

Ha,rris . 

Harrison . . 

2,  326, 400,  000 
521,600,000 
483,  200,  000 

Hpndprsrm . 

Hopin’ ns . 

H on  stnn  . 

3,216,000,000 

Ja.sppr  . 

2,  534, 400, 000 

Jefferson  . 

288,  000,  000 
2, 147,  200,  000 
233, 600, 000 

Tii’hpvty  . 

41,600,000 

Madison . 

Marion . 

1,187,200,000 

Montgomery . 

2,  326,  400,  000 

Morris . 

729,600,000 

1,555,200,000 

Nacogdoches . 

Newton  . . . . 

1,216,000,000 

2, 112, 000, 000 
230, 000,  000 
1,193,600,000 
2,720,000,000 

35,500,000 
33,  000,  000 
518, 400, 000 

Orangp . 

Panola . 

1,107,200,000 

Pcjk . 

473, 600,  000 

Red  River . 

272,  000,  000 

2,  492,  800,  000 

Rusk  . 

115,200,000 

1,648,000,000 

1,625,600,000 

Sabine . 

San  Augustine . 

San  Jacinto . 

1.833,600,000 

Shelby . 

1,884,  800,  000 

425, 600, 000 
2,035,200,000 
896, 000, 000 

Smith . 

Titus . 

Trinity . 

51,000,000 

1,987,  200,000 

42 


Counties. 

Long-leaved  Pine. 
(Pinus  australis .) 

Short-leaved  Pine. 
(Pinus  mitis  ) 

Loblolly  Pine. 
(Pinus  Tee  da.) 

Tyler . 

No.  feet  (board- tue as.) 

2, 550, 400, 000 

No.  feet  (boat  d-meas .) 

No.  feet  (board-tiieas.) 

Upshur . 

1,392,000.000 
26, 000, 000 

Van  Zandt . 

Walker . 

1,590,400,000 
19, 000, 000 

Waller . 

Wood . 

1,600,000,000 

Total . 

20,508,200,000 

26, 093, 200, 000 

20,  907, 100,  000 

Amount  cut  during  the 
year  ending  May  31, 
1880  . 

66, 450, 000  i  1  146, 420, 000 

61,570,000 

Summary. 


The  total  amount  of  merchantable  pine  standing  in  this  tier  of  South¬ 
ern  States,  intersected  by  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  Railway,  was 
on  the  31st  of  May,  1880,  as  follows : 

No.  of  feet, 
(board.  Measure.') 


Florida . 

Georgia . 

Alabama.... 

Mississippi 

Louisiana.. 


6,615,000,000 

16,778,000,000 

21,192,000,000 

23,975,000,000 

48,213,000,000 


Texas 


67,508,500,000 


Grand  Total, 


184,281,500,000 


Contrasting  the  pine  supply  of  these  Southern  States  with  that  of 
Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota  the  reader  will  observe  that  the 
merchantable  standing  pine  of  Michigan  is  but  35,000,000,000  feet,  or 
but  a  trifle  more  than  half  that  of  Texas ;  that  the  merchantable  stand¬ 
ing  pine  of  Minnesota  is  but  6,100,000,000  feet,  or  less  than  one-seventh 
that  of  Louisiana ;  that  the  merchantable  standing'  pine  of  Wisconsin  is 
41,000,000,000  feet,  or  less  than  that  of  Louisiana,  and  less  than  two- 
thirds  that  of  Texas. 


1  Including  30,290,000  shingles. 


43 


Quality  of  Southern  Pine. 

A  recent  bulletin  published  by  the  U.  S.  Census  Office  gives  the  fuel 
value  of  55  varieties  of  the  more  important  woods  of  the  United  States. 
They  are  arranged  in  the  order  of  relative  value  by  equal  volumes,  and 
in  this  list  the  Southern  or  long-leaved  pine  ranks  second,  (mahogany 
being  first,)  and  the  white  pine  of  the  Northern  States  ranks  fifty-third, 
or  near  the  bottom  of  the  list. 

In  relative  value,  by  equal  weights,  the  Southern  long-leaved  pine 
ranks  first,  pitch  pine  second,  and  white  oak  last,  or  fifty-fifth.  In  weight 
per  cubic  foot  Southern  long-leaved  pine  is  46  22-100  pounds,  or  more 
than  double  that  of  Northern  white  pine,  which  is  21  72-100  pounds. 


44 


In  Northern  Mexico. 

The  forests  of  Northern  Mexico  are  also  very  extensive,  as  may  be  seen 
by  a  glance  of  the  map  on  the  following  page  prepared  by  Col.  Yon 
Motz.  Referring  to  the  Report  on  the  Topolobampo  Reconnoissance  we 
find  the  following  testimony  from  Mr.  Simmons :  “  At  an  elevation  of 
4,000  feet  on  the  western  slope  we  entered  a  magnificent  belt  of  pines, 
and  never  left  it  till  we  descended  to  7,000  feet  on  the  eastern  side.  From 
the  highest  elevations,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  to  the  north  and 
south,  one  sea  of  pines  extended.  There  is  wood  enough  along  our  line 
to  supply  ties  for  all  the  railroads  in  Mexico,  and  several  parties  ap¬ 
proached  us  on  the  subject  of  contracting  to  deliver  them  at  very  reason¬ 
able  prices.  Besides  the  pine  there  were  magnificent  oaks  of  various 
kind,  and  in  the  foot-hills  below  the  pine  not  less  than  twenty  varieties 
of  useful  woods  in  great  abundance.” 

Mr.  Price  says  in  his  report :  “  The  foot-hills  are  covered  with  timber 
of  various  kinds,  most  of  the  trees  being  large  enough  for  railroad  ties. 
At  an  altitude  of  4,000  feet  pines  begin  to  grow,  and  the  entire  Sierra 
Madre  range  is  covered  with  a  forest,  through  which  we  travelled  for 
days.  There  is  timber  enough  in  the  mountains  of  Mexico  to  supply 
this  continent  for  years  to  come.” 

On  this  subject  Hon.  Camilo  Vega,  who  travelled  across  Northern 
Mexico  in  1876,  writes  concerning  the  region  intersected  by  the  mountain 
section  of  the  railway :  “  Immense  forests  of  pine  and  oak  trees  are  to  be 
found  in  this  section,  and  thus  fuel  here  for  engines  and  other  purposes 
will  be  very  cheap.” 

Of  the  Pacific  division  of  the  road  he  writes  :  “  There  are  extensive 
and  thick  forests,  from  which  good  timber  can  be  had,  among  which  I 
will  mention  amapa,  cedar,  asta,  mulberry,  &c.,  &c.  The  first  named 
(amapa)  is  extremely  hard,  and  can  be  employed  with  great  advantage 
for  cross-ties,  being  so  abundant  that,  without  the  least  exaggeration, 
there  is  timber  enough  of  that  class  to  furnish  all  the  cross-ties  needed 
for  the  whole  railroad  line  from  Topolobampo  to  Texas.  Wood  for 
engines  is  equally  abundant  and  very  cheap.” 

H.  R.  Holbrook,  Esq.,  the  engineer  recently  employed  to  locate  .the 
mountain  section  of  the  trunk-line,  says  of  the  tributary  forests : 

“  Pine  timber  commences  at  Bachochic,  a  point  on  the  Rio  Conchos, 
40  miles  west  from  Monoava,  and  70  miles  east  of  the  continental  divide, 
at  an  elevation  of  6,500  feet.  It  extends  across  the  mountains  westward 
for  200  miles  (along  the  line)  to  near  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Sententrion, 
and  indefinitely  to  the  northward  and  southward.  It  is  the  native 


NORTHERN  MEXICO  TRIBUTARY  TO  THE  AMERICAN  AND  MEXICAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY 


45 


Rocky  Mountain  pitch  pine,  the  same  as  found  in  Colorada,  New  Mex¬ 
ico,  and  Arizona.  It  is  rarely  found  much  below  an  elevation  of  7,000 
feet.  It  is  tall  and  straight,  and  there  are  from  30  to  100  trees  per 
acre,  about  25  per  cent,  of  which  is  good  sawing  timber.  There  is  some 
black  oak  timber,  good  size — now  and  then  a  tree.  In  the  gulches  and 
canons  is  found  the  cedar.  Enough  can  easily  be  obtained  to  supply 
the  line  with  telegraph  poles.  It  grows  tall  and  straight.” 

Col.  Yon  Motz  says  in  his  recent  report  to  the  Company: 

uAt  about  an  altitude  of  6,800  to  7,000  feet  the  pine,  fir,  and  cedar 
make  their  appearance,  covering  the  crest  of  the  Sierra  Madre  for  an 
average  width  of  120  miles.  Erom  the  foot  hills  till  at  a  distance  of  30 
miles  from  the  continental  divide,  good  and  enough  timber  is  found 
along  the  immediate  line  of  the  proposed  railroad  to  supply  the  demands 
of  construction,  except  bridging,  for  which  the  heavier  timber  will  have  to 
be  brought  from  the  higher  part  of  the  Sierra. 

Approaching  the  summit,  or  continental  divide,  the  growth  of  pine 
timber  is  dense,  and  covers  all  mountain  ranges  and  peaks  for  an  aver¬ 
age  width  of  30  miles  on  the  east  side,  and  from  40  to  45  miles  on  the 
west  side  of  the  divide  heavy  saw  timber  is  found  averaging  from  30  to 
40  trees  to  the  acre,  one-tenth  part  of  which  is  timber  of  from  24  to  36 
inches  diameter,  belonging  to  the  long-leaved  white  pine  family,  exceed¬ 
ingly  fit  for  all  domestic  and  building  purposes.  The  proposed  route 
probably  passing  the  summit  near  Bocoyna,  it  deserves  our  attention  to 
mention  the  enormous  groves  of  this  valuable  pine  timber  at  about  12 
miles  north  from  this  place  and  for  20  to  30  miles  west,  southwest,  and 
northwest  from  it ;  the  transportation  of  this  timber  for  commercial  pur¬ 
poses  will  be  a  prominent  and  constant  feeder  for  the  business  of  the 
road,  as  the  demand  for  saw  timber  and  lumber  as  well  in  the  plains  of 
the  plateau,  as  in  the  fertile  area  of  the  foot  hills  and  coast-range  of  the 
Gulf  of  California,  will  be  enormous.” 


VIII. 


TRIBUTARY  AGRICULTURE. 

In  Northern  Mexico. 

General  Notes: — But  little  progress  has  been  made  in  agriculture 
during  the  362  years  since  Cortez  conquered  the  Aztecs.  His  chief 
ambition,  in  a  material  sense,  was  the  development  of  the  mines  of  silver 
and  gold.  So  brilliant  has  been  Mexico’s  record  in  the  production  of 
precious  metals  that  the  general  public  seem  to  have  overlooked  and 
under-estimated  her  agricultural  capacity.  A  similar  mistake  was  made 
in  regard  to  California,  in  1850,  when  Daniel  Webster  said,  in  a  speech 
on  the  subject  of  public  lands:  “I  am  sure  that  everybody  has  become 
satisfied  that  although  California  may  have  a  very  great  seaboard  and  a 
large  city  or  two,  yet  that  the  agricultural  products  of  the  whole  surface 
now  are  not,  and  never  will  be,  equal  to  one  half  part  those  of  the  State 
of  Illinois;  no,  nor  yet  a  fourth  part,  or  perhaps  a  tenth  part.”  Not¬ 
withstanding  this  prediction,  California  has,  for  years  past,  produced 
more  wheat  than  Illinois,  and  is  generally  recognized  as  one  of  our  fore¬ 
most  agicultural  States.  A  similar  surprise  awaits  those  who  are  doubt¬ 
ful  about  the  agricultural  capacity  of  Mexico,  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
reports  of  a  few  writers  who  have  examined  this  subject. 

A  very  emphatic  tribute  to  the  general  natural  riches  of  Mexico  may 
be  found  in  Lempriere’s  “  Notes  on  Mexico,”  written  in  1862,  in  which 
he  says  :  “  The  merciful  hand  of  Providence  has  bestowed  on  the  Mex¬ 
icans  a  magnificent  land,  abounding  in  resources  of  all  kinds — a  land 
where  none  ought  to  be  poor,  and  where  misery  ought  to  be  unknown 
— a  land  whose  products  and  riches  of  every  kind  are  abundant,  and  as 
varied  as  they  are  rich.  It  is  a  country  endowed  to  profusion  with  every 
gift  that  man  can  desire  or  envy  ;  all  the  metals  from  gold  to  lead ; 
every  sort  of  climate  from  perpetual  snow  to  tropical  heat,  and  incon¬ 
ceivable  fertility.” 

But  to  change  from  testimony  concerning  the  agricultural  capacity  of 
Mexico  as  a  whole  to  an  examination  of  the  productiveness  of  the  region 
along  and  near  the  line  of  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  Kailway,  we 

46 


47 


find  the  following  in  the  recent  report  on  the  reconnoissance  by  Messrs. 
Simmons,  Carman,  and  Price. 

Of  the  country  in  the  State  of  Sinaloa,  along  the  western  division  of 
the  road,  Mr.  Simmons  reports :  “  I  can  conscientiously  say  I  have  never 
seen  in  any  part  of  the  world  such  a  land  of  magnificent  bounty.  To 
detail  my  impressions  of  the  country  on  our  journey  up  the  valley  to  the 
city  of  Fuerte,  the  capital  of  the  Fuerte  district,  would  be  only  to  repeat 
what  I  have  said  of  this  portion  which  is  around  Ahome,  and  I  may  con¬ 
dense  the  whole  description  of  the  Fuerte  valley,  from  Ahome  to  the 
mountains,  into  these  few  words  :  Magnificent  in  beauty,  unsurpassed 
in  fertility — a  land  so  rich  and  bounteous  that  if  the  proper  measures 
(which  I  shall  shortly  indicate  and  have  contingently  provided  for)  to 
secure  a  sufficient  amount  of  it  shall  be  taken  I  am  confident  that  the 
entire  cost  of  the  road  from  Topolobampo  to  the  foot-hills  of  the  Sierras 
can  be  defrayed  from  the  profits  which  will  accrue  to  the  Company 
from  future  land  sales 

Of  this  same  section  Dr.  Carman  reports  :  “  Near  the  river  Fuerte,  at 
Ahome,  as  well  as  in  the  villages  which  we  visited,  *  *  *  and  up 

to  the  city  of  Fuerte,  we  found  wherever  irrigation  was  adopted  the 
finest  crops  of  corn,  sugar-cane,  and  cotton  that  I  had  ever  seen.  Cotton 
is  planted,  I  am  told,  only  once  in  many  years,  and  we  saw  large  fields 
which  are  said  to  be  five  and  seven  years  old.  These  yield  two  and 
three  crops  annually.  We  saw  in  the  same  field  plants  in  blossom,  pods 
and  ripe  cotton  which  was  being  picked.  The  corn-fields  were  very 
large  and  prolific.  Coffee  was  also  growing  in  small  patches,  but  pro¬ 
ducing  well ;  some  we  found  with  fruit,  the  berries  resembling  cherries? 
the  grain  well  formed.  Tobacco  was  also  planted  in  some  places,  and  is 
of  good  flavor.  Vegetables  and  fruits,  peculiar  to  these  latitudes,  were 
in  abundance.  Potatoes  grown  here  were  excellent,  though  small. 
Oranges,  guayavas,  bananas,  and  plantains  were  plentiful  and  of  rich 
flavor.  Beans  produce  largely  and  are  of  good  size.  Flowers  of  every 
kind  flourish.”  2 

Mr.  Price  pays  a  similar  tribute  to  this  section  in  his  report,  viz  :  “  No 
section  of  the  world  can  surpass  the  Fuerte  river  valley  for  agricultural 
pursuits.  The  soil  is  deep,  and  sugar-cane  and  cotton  produce  from 
three  to  six  crops  from  one  planting.  Coffee-  is  now  being  planted  with 
success,  and  cereals  of  almost  every  kind  yield  abundant  harvests.  As 
the  fields  are  irrigated  the  crops  are  surer  than  where  rain  is  depended 
upon.” 3 

1  See  Report,  p.  10. 

2  See  p.  25  of  Report. 

3  See  p.  40  of  Report. 


48 


In  a  private  letter  to  the  projector  of  the  Topolobampo  Railway  the 
United  States  consul,  residing  on  the  west  coast  of  Mexico,  says  of 
Sinaloa  :  “  The  soil  is  remarkable  for  its  fertility,  and  I  doubt  if  there  is 
a  State  in  the  American  Union  which  can  compare  in  that  respect  with 
the  State  of  Sinaloa.” 

Of  this  same  State  the  United  States  consul,  residing  at  Mazatlan, 
reported  to  our  State  Department  in  1871 :  “  The  richness  of  the  soil 
of  this  State  is  undeniable.  Cotton,  sugar-cane,  coffee,  tobacco,  wheat, 
corn,  and  beans  are  all  grown  in  the  State.”  *  *  *  “  All  that  is 

wanting  is  good  husbandry  to  make  it  one  of  the  richest  of  States.”1 

Sonora  is  another  State  partially  intersected  by  a  branch  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  and  Mexican  Pacific  road.  Of  it  Wilson,  who  travelled  through  North¬ 
ern  Mexico  about  1853,  said  in  his  work  on  “Mexico  and  its  Religions  ”  as 
follows  :  “  It  is  like  the  land  of  the  blessed  in  Oriental  story.  California 
does  not  surpass  it  in  fertility  or  in  climate.  With  industry  and  thrift  it 
could  sustain  a  population  equal  to  that  of  all  Mexico.  The  table-lands 
and  the  valleys  are  so  near  together  that  the  products  of  all  climates 
flourish  almost  side  by  side.”2 

Of  the  State  of  Chihuahua,  through  which  the  main  line  of  the  road 
passes,  Dr.  Wislizenus  reported :  “  Agriculture,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the 
least  promising  branch  of  industry.  The  want  of  more  water-courses, 
and  the  necessity  of  irrigation,  are  the  principle  causes ;  but,  neverthe¬ 
less,  they  raise  every  year  more  than  sufficient  for  their  own  consump¬ 
tion,  and  failure  of  crops,  with  starvation  of  the  people,  is  less  common 
here  than  in  many  other  countries,  because  the  regular  system  of  irriga¬ 
tion  itself  prevents  it.”  3 

Of  eastern  Chihuahua  and  Coahuila,  which  States  are  intersected  by 
the  eastern  division  of  the  road,  Hon.  Camilo  Vega,  member  of  the  Mexi¬ 
can  Chamber  of  Deputies  from  Sinaloa,  writes  :  “  There  you  have  exten¬ 
sive  and  rich  haciendas,  \vith  thousands  and  thousands  of  cattle,  horses, 
&c.,  and  with  extensive  fields,  where  wheat  and  cotton  grow  alike  luxu¬ 
riantly.  In  the  haciendas  of  the  State  of  Coahuila,  besides  wheat  and 
cotton,  the  sugar-cane  and  the  grape  are  cultivated  with  great  success — 
the  wine  of  Parras  and  Cuatro  Cienegas  being  the  very  choicest  made  in 
the  country.” 

Cotton  : — An  official  report  to  the  State  Department  in  1880,  by  U. 
S.  Consul-General  Strother,  enumerates  as  the  principal  cotton  pro¬ 
ducing  States  of  the  Republic  the  following  :  Vera  Cruz,  Guerrero, 
1  Commercial  Relations  for  1871,  p.  912. 

8  Mexico  and  its  Religions,  by  R.  A.  Wilson,  p.  383. 

3  Senate  Doc.,  No.  26,  1st  sess.  30th  Cong.,  p.  83. 


49 


Cliiapas,  Oaxaca,  Colima,  Michoacon,  Jalisco,  Sinaloa,  Sonora,  Chihua¬ 
hua,  Durango,  and  Coahuila. 

It  will  be  observed  that  five  of  these  States  are  tributary  to  the  Ameri¬ 
can  and  Mexican  Pacific  Railway. 

Of  Sinaloa  he  reports  as  follows  :  “  The  estimated  annual  crop  of  this 
State  is  1,700,000  pounds.  The  average  yield  per  acre  is  estimated  at 
1,050  pounds;  of  seed,  700  pounds  ;  of  pure  fibre,  350  pounds.  The 
seed  is  used  for  fuel  at  the  gas-works — one- third  cotton  seed  and  two- 
thirds  coal.  It  is  also  used  for  cattle  feed,  and  sold  at  75  cents  per  quin¬ 
tal.  Average  wages  of  laborers,  50  cents  per  diem,  and  in  remote  locali¬ 
ties  25  cents  and  maintenance.  The  American  steam  cotton-gin  called 
the  Eagle  is  the  only  machine  used  in  this  district.  There  are  three 
cotton  factories  in  operation  in  Sinaloa,  but  the  whole  crop  of  this  State, 
two-thirds  of  that  of  Sonora,  and  considerable  importations  from  Guer¬ 
rero,  all  combined  do  not  suffice  fully  to  supply  the  mills.  The  crop  in 
this  legion  suffers  from  superabundance  of  rain  and  insects,  and  is  con¬ 
sidered  very  uncertain. 

Of  Sonora  he  reports:  “The  crop  of  this  State  averages  about  1,000- 
000  pounds  per  annum,  and  the  responses  to  other  questions  the  same 
as  in  Sinaloa.” 


Of  Durango  he  reports :  “  The  annual  product  of  this  State  is  esti¬ 
mated  at  4,000,000  pounds,  the  product  per  acre  at  1,500  pounds,  yield¬ 
ing  420  pounds  pure  lint.  The  American  (Eagle)  steam  gin  and  some 
few  horse-power  gins  are  the  machines  used  for  cleaning  the  cotton. 
The  seed  is  used  for  heating  steam  boilers  and  feeding  cattle.  Laborers 
wages,  nominally  75  cents  per  diem,  but  being  paid  in  high-priced  goods 
are  equivalent  to  not  more  than  30  cents  in  cash.  Cotton  gatherers  are 
paid  from  12|  and  25  cents  per  arroba,  (25  pounds,)  and  an  active  man 
can  gather  six  arrobas  in  a  day.  The  crops  suffer  very  seriously  from 
the  attack  of  vermin,  such  as  worms,  locusts,  and  pocks,  (viruela.) 

Of  Coahuila  he  says :  “  The  annual  production  of  this  State  is  esti¬ 
mated  at  3,000,000  pounds.  Last  year’s  crop  being  a  partial  failure  did 
not  probably  exceed  1,250,000  pounds ;  machinery,  wages,  and  other 
details  same  as  in  Durango.  In  the  Laguna,  cotton  is  perennial  and 
does  not  require  to  be  planted  oftener  than  once  in  ten  years.  This  dis¬ 
trict,  containing  about  1,200,000  acres,  lies  partly  in  Coahuila  and  partly 
in  Durango,  is  of  extraordinary  fertility,  and  well  adapted  to  cotton,  but 
is  very  little  cultivated,  and  the  cotton  product  of  Coahuila  is  diminish¬ 
ing  yearly.” 


Of  Chihuahua  he  makes  no  report. 

Wheat  and  Corn : — Baron  Humboldt,  who  spent  several  years  in  Mex- 


50 


ico  near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  says  of  one  section  of  the 
table-lands  near  the  centre  of  that  Republic :  “The  wheat  harvest  is 
thirty-five  and  forty  for  one,  and  several  great  farms  can  reckon  fifty  or 
sixty  to  one.’’  *  *  *  “  At  Cholula  the  common  harvest  is  from  thirty 

to  forty  ;  but  it  frequently  exceeds  from  seventy  to  eighty  for  one.  In  the 
valley  of  Mexico  the  maize  yields  two  hundred,  and  the  wheat  eighteen  or 
twenty.  I  have  observed  that  the  numbers  which  I  here  give  have  all  the 
accuracy  which  can  be  desired  in  so  important  an  object  for  the  knowledge: 
of  territorial  riches.  Being  eagerly  desirous  of  knowing  the  produce  of 
agriculture  under  the  tropics,  I  procured  all  the  information  on  the  very 
spots,  and  I  compared  together  the  data'which  I  was  furnished  by  intelli¬ 
gent  colonists  who  inhabited  provinces  at  a  distance  from  one  another. 

I  was  induced  to  be  so  much  the  more  precise  in  this  operation,  as  having 
been  born  in  a  community  where  grain  scarcely  produces  four  or  five  for 
one,  I  was  naturally  more  apt  than  another  to  be  disposed  to  suspect 
the  exaggerations  of  agriculturists.”  Of  the  portion  of  Mexico,  near' 
Celaya,  he  wrote:  “The  agriculturists  showed  me  the  enormous  dif¬ 
ference  of  produce  between  the  lands  artificially  watered  and  those: 
which  are  not.  The  former,  which  receive  the  water  of  the  Rio  Grande, 
distributed  by  drains  into  several  pools,  yield  from  forty  to  fifty  for  one, 
while  the  latter,  which  do  not  enjoy  the  benefit  of  irrigation,  only  yield 
fifteen  or  twenty.” 

After  describing  in  detail  the  wheat  capacity  of  New  Spain,  viz.,  the 
country  comprising  present  Mexico  and  the  territory  ceded  by  her  to  the 
United  States  in  1848  and  1858,  he  reaches  the  following  general  con¬ 
clusion  :  “  We  shall  collect  into  one  table  the  knowledge  which  we  have 
acquired  as  to  the  mean  produce  of  the  cerelia  in  the  two  continents.  We 
are  not  here  adducing  examples  of  an  extraordinary  fertility,  observable 
in  a  small  extent  of  ground.”  *  *  *  “  But  in  treating  of  agriculture 

in  general,  we  speak  merely  of  extensive  results,  of  calculations  in  whicl 
the  total  harvest  of  a  country  is  considered  as  the  multiple  of  the  quan¬ 
tity  of  wheat  sown.  It  will  be  found  that  this  multiple,  which  may  be 
considered  as  one  of  the  first  elements  of  the  prosperity  of  nations,  varies 
in  the  following  manner :  Five  to  six  grains  for  one  in  France,  according 
to  La  Voisier  and  Neckar.”  *  *  *  “  This  is  also  the  mean  produce 

in  the  north  of  Germany,  Poland,  and,  according  to  M.  Riihs,  in  Sweden. 

*  *  •  *  “  Eight  to  ten  grains  for  one  in  Hungary,  Croatia,  and  Scla 

vonia,  according  to  the  researches  of  M.  Swartner.”  *  *  *  “Seven¬ 
teen  grains  for  one  in  the  northern  part  of  Mexico.”  *  *  *  “  Twenty  I 

four  grains  for  one  in  the  equinoctial  region  of  Mexico.” 


51 


He  also  adds  :  “  The  Mexican  wheat  is  of  the  very  best  quality,  and 
it  may  be  compared  with  the  finest  Andalusian  grain.”  *  *  *  “In 

Mexico  the  grain  is  very  large,  very  white,  and  very  nutritive,  especially 
in  farms  where  watering  is  employed.” 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  stated  that  the  Mexican  wheat  and  flour 
like  that  of  Virginia  and  Tennessee,  will  cross  the  equator  in  perfect  con¬ 
dition. 

Of  Mexico’s  capacity  for  corn,  Ward,  the  British  minister  to  that  coun¬ 
try,  wrote  in  1827  :  “  There  are  few  parts,  either  of  the  Tierra  Caliente 
or  of  the  table-land,  in  which  maize  is  not  cultivated  with  success.  In 
the  low  hot  grounds  upon  the  coast,  and  on  the  slope  of  the  Cordillera, 
its  growth  is  more  colossal  than  in  the  table-land ;  but  even  there,  at 
seven  and  eight  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  its  fecundity  is 
such  as  will  hardly  be  credited  in  Europe.” 

What  we  have  just  quoted  about  the  general  capacity  of  Mexico  for 
the  production  of  cereals  may  be  applied  with  double  force  to  the  States 
of  Sinaloa  and  Sonora,  intersected  by  the  proposed  branch  of  the  Mexican 
and  Pacific  Boad,  extending  from  Alamos  to  Mazatlan,  for  we  will  ven¬ 
ture  the  prediction  that  they  will  soon  rival  California  in  these  products. 

Grazing: — The  official  representative  of  the  United  States  residing  at 
the  city  of  Chihuahua  reported  to  the  State  Department,  in  1871,  con¬ 
cerning  the  State  of  Chihuahua  :  “  The  State  is  particularly  adapted  to 
stock  raising  ;  the  warm  climate  and  very  mild  winters  afford  great  ad¬ 
vantages  in  this  branch  of  business.”  *  *  *  “  There  are,  at  this  time, 
very  near  eight  hundred  thousand  sheep,  and  Very  near  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  cattle  in  the  State.”  1 

Dr.  Wislizenus  reported  of  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico  and  the  State 
of  Chihuahua,  as  follows  :  “As  a  grazing  country  both  States  are  unsur¬ 
passed  by  any  in  the  Union.  Millions  of  stock  can  be  raised  every  year 
in  the  prairies  of  the  high  table-land  and  the  mountains.  Cattle,  horses, 
mules,  and  sheep  increase  very  fast,  and  if  more  attention  were  paid  to 
the  improvement  of  the  stock  the  wool  of  the  sheep  alone  could  be  made 
the  exchange  for  the  greatest  part  of  the  present  importation.”2 

Of  eastern  Chihuahua  ,  and  Coahuila,  through  which  region  the  eastern 
division  of  the  road  is  projected,  Hon.  Camilo  Vega  writes  :  “  The  lands 
m  this  section  are  unexcelled  for  raising  cattle,  horses,  mules,  and  sheep.” 

In  Our  Southern  States. 

Cotton  .-—The  cotton  crop  of  the  whole  United  States  for  the  year 

1  Commercial  Relations  for  1871,  p.  898. 

2  Senate  Doc.  No.  26,  1st  sess.  30th  Cong.,  p.  83. 


52 


1882  was,  according  to  the  recent  estimate  of  the  Department  of  Agri¬ 
culture,  6,800,000  bales,  of  which  two-thirds  or  4,672,000  bales  were 
produced  in  the  States  intersected  by  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific 
Railway.  The  details  are  as  follows : 

Bales. 


Florida . 

Georgia .... 
Alabama.... 
Mississippi. 
Louisiana . . 
Texas . 


61,000 

920,000 

784,000 

1,042,000 

539,000 

1,326,000 


Sugar  : — About  the  only  good  sugav  lands  of  the  United  States  are 
those  in  Texas  and  Louisiana  near  the  line  of  the  railway  under  con¬ 
sideration.  Of  Louisiana  it  is  needless  to  speak,  for  its  sugar  product 
is  well  known  and  the  only  one  regularly  reported  in  the  statistical  re¬ 
ports  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture.  But  the  sugar  lands  of 
Southern  Texas,  in  the  very  counties  intersected  by  the  branch  of  the 
American  and  Mexican  Pacific  Railway  extending  from  Eagle  Pass  to 
Galveston,  are  not  so  generally  known.  The  Galveston  News  of  Sept. 
1,  1882,  thus  describes  this  sugar  district :  “  The  sugar  bowl  proper 
comprises  the  four  counties  of  Brazoria,  Fort  Bend,  Matagorda  and 
Wharton,  all  having  the  richest  lands  in  the  world.  There  are  many 
who  claim  that  the  sugar  belt  is  much  larger  than  this  and  stretches 
over  the  coast  country,  comprising  the  counties  of  Orange,  Jefferson, 
Liberty,  Chambers,  Harris,  Galveston,  Jackson,  Calhoun,  Victoria,  Re¬ 
fugio,  San  Patricio,  Aransas,  Nueces,  and  Cameron,  together  with  the 
four  counties  first  named.  It  embraces  21,817  square  miles  of  territory. 
But  the  purpose  of  this  article  is  to  call  attention  strictly  to  the  sugar- 
bowl  proper,  and  to  give  a  history  of  its  boundless  resources  in  general, 
and  of  the  sugar  interest  in  particular.  The  number  of  square  miles  in 
these  four  counties  are  estimated  at  about  5,000,  and  the  number  of 
acres  at  a  little  over  3,000,000.  About  one-third  is  bottom  land,  and 
capable  of  raising  from  one  to  three  hogsheads  of  sugar  to  the  acre, 
with  two  barrels  of  molasses  to  each  hogshead  of  sugar.  The  country 
is  very  thinly  settled,  and  the  plantations  have  not  been  handled  pro¬ 
perly  since  the  war.  In  the  year  1879  there  were  produced  about  5,664 
hogsheads  of  sugar  in  Brazoria  county,  and  about  12,244  barrels  of 
molasses,  valued  at  about  $450,000.  If  this  land  was  all  planted  in 
sugar  it  would  yield  about  twice  the  amount  of  sugar  and  molasses  now 
consumed  in  the  United  States.” 


1 


IX. 


TOPOLOBAMPO  HARBOR  AND  CITY  SITE. 


Description  of  Harbor. 

rpOPOLOBAMPO  HARBOR  is  in  the  State  of  Sinaloa ;  its  entrance 
-I  from  the  Gulf  of  California  being  at  north  latitude  25°  32'.  It  has 
been  thrice  surveyed  by  the  United  States.  Ah  elaborate  chart  of  the 
harbor  has  been  published  by  the  Navy  Department,  from  a  survey  made 
in  1874  and  1875  by  Commander  Geo.  Dewey  and  other  officers  of  the 
U.  S.  ship  Narragansett. .  It  is  composed  of  two  bays,  the  outer  one 
called  Topolobampo,  and  the  inner  Oguira,  or  San  Carlos.  In  the 
journal  of  Commander  W.  T.  Truxton,  U.  S.  Navy,  who  surveyed  it  in 
1869,  we  find  the  following  :  “  The  anchorage  outside  is  perfectly  safe, 
as  a  ship  could  always  lie  off  shore  with  a  southeast  wind  should  it  begin 
to  blow.  Inside  Topolobampo  vessels  are  entirely  protected  from  the 
sea,  while  only  southwest  and  northwest  winds  would  be  felt.  In  San 
Carlos  vessels  would  be  entirely  land-locked.  In  fact,  for  safety,  no  more 
secure  anchorage  is  to  be  found ;  while,  with  the  aid  of  two  or  three 
buoys,  access  to  it  could  be  made  perfectly  simple — more  so  than  to 
most  of  the  harbors  on  the  coast  of  the  United  States  south  of  Boston.” 

Its  area  and  anchorage  are  thus  described  by  Mr.  Owen,  the  projector 
and  chief  engineer  of  the  railway :  “  Topolobampo  harbor  is  18  miles 
long  and  from  1  to  6  miles  wide,  consists  of  two  great  basins  connected 
with  a  strait — the  Straits  of  Joshua — and  contains  54  square  miles  of 
water  area,  12  square  miles  being  from  21  to  90  feet  deep.  The  depth 
on  the  bar  at  low  water  is  21  feet,  and  the  tides  rise  from  4  to  6  feet.” 
*  *  *  “  San  Diego,  California,  has  an  anchorage  area  of  6  square 

miles,  or  one-half  that  of  Topolobampo,  while  New  York,  Jersey,  Hobo¬ 
ken,  and  Brooklyn  cities,  with  a  water  frontage  on  the  Hudson,  East, 
and  Harlem  rivers,  all  combined,  have  but  12^  square  miles  of  anchorage, 
or  but  one-half  square  mile  more  than  the  deep  and  mountain-locked 
anchorage  of  Topolobampo.” 

Mr.  Simmons,  who  visited  the  harbor  in  April  of  the  present  year, 
says  in  his  report  of  the  railway  reconnoissance :  “  I  am  familiar  with 
many  of  the  finest  harbors  in  the  world,  but  for  natural  beauty  I  know 

53 


54 


of  none  that  excel,  and  few  that  equal,  the  Bay  of  Topolobampo.” 
*  *  *  “The  exquisite  beauty  of  the  harbor,  the  exact  correspondence 

of  our  soundings  with  the  chart  measurements,  the  abundance  of  game, 
the  great  charm  of  the  place,  had  wrought  us  to  such  a  pitch  of  enthusi¬ 
asm  that  we  spoke  of  everything  in  superlatives,  and  agreed  that  the 
harbor  of  Topolobampo  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world,  and 
I  see  no  reason  to  modify  in  the  slightest  degree  my  original  opinion.” 

Mr.  Simmons  publishes  in  his  report  a  letter  from  a  sea  captain,  Geo. 
Davis,  in  which  is  the  following  reference  to  the  harbor:  “In  the  month 
of  July,  1872,  I  came  from  San  Francisco  in  a  vessel  of  my  own,  and 
by  advice  of  Mr.  David  Turner,  American  consul  of  La  Paz,  Lower  Cali¬ 
fornia,  I  entered  this  harbor  of  Topolobampo.  When  I  came  to  the 
Farrallan  Island,  a  large  rock,  situated  about  W.S.W.  from  entrance  to 
the  port,  I  was  troubled  to  know  where  the  *channel  lay,  as  I  expected  to 
lind  it  by  the  surf ;  but  as  the  sea  was  perfectly  smooth  on  the  bar,  I 
took  my  boat  and  started  out  ahead  to  sound,  and  easily  found  a  good, 
wide  channel,  carrying  from  six  to  seven  fathoms,  until  past  Las  Copas 
Island,  and  from  there  it  deepened  to  15  fathoms,  with  excellent  holding 
ground  for  anchorage.” 

In  a  recent  lecture  on  the  State  of  Sinaloa,  by  Frederick  Weidner,  M. 
&  C.  E.,  Surveyor-General  of  Sinaloa,  delivered  before  the  Geographical 
Society  of  the  Pacific,  at  San  Francisco,  Nov.  15,  1881,  he  alludes  to  the 
harbors  in  the  following  terms : 

“  Nature  has  provided  the  coast  of  Sinaloa  with  many  bays  and  large 
estuaries  ;  and  from  amongst  them  fourteen  are  used  for  harbors,  ship¬ 
ping,  and  landing  places.  The  Topolobampo  harbor,  although  unfre¬ 
quented  now,  is  considered  generally  the  most  beautiful,  the  safest,  and 
best  situated  of  all.  Mazatlan,  at  the  very  entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Cali¬ 
fornia,  is  actually  the  first  and  only  port  of  entry  in  Sinaloa,  and  as  re¬ 
gards  its  importance,  the  second  one  of  the  Republic.  But  its  soundings 
are  not  deep  enough  to  allow  large  vessels  to  come  in  and  find  a  secure 
roadstead  against  the  southwest  and  northwest  winds.  Vessels  are 
obliged  to  anchor  outside  the  harbor  and  take  refuge  in  the  open  sea 
whenever  a  heavy  wind  sets  in.” 

In  a  recent  communication  Mr.  Mareno,  Government  Engineer  of  the 
railway,  says  of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  as  follows : 

“I  hereby  state  that  Topolobampo  bars  is  of  movable  sands,  and  that 
at  low  tide  it  has  a  depth,  at  the  most  dangerous  places — that  is  say, 
where  sands  accumulate,  never  less  than  3^  fathoms. 

This  case  is  very  rare,  and  in  order  that  such  a  thing  may  take  place  it 


55 


is  necessary  that  a  very  heavy  gale  blows.  The  depth  at  the  bar  is  gene¬ 
rally  from  4  to  6  fathoms.” 

Col.  Yon  Motz,  who  has  just  returned  from  the  line  of  the  road,  says 
of  the  harbor :  “  In  arriving  at  Topolobampo  harbor  we  were  magnetized 
by  the  majestic  aspect  of  this  future  depot  of  commerce  ;  the  grandeur 
and  quietness  of  nature  were  impressive.”  *  *  * 

“  Being  acquainted  with  the  depths  of  the  harbor  itself,  we  got  reliable 
information  about  the  bar,  bringing  the  depth  there  at  about  4  to  5 
fathoms  during  4  months  of  the  year,  and  about  7  to  8  fathoms  for  8 
months  of  the  year,  subject  to  local  winds  at  the  coast.  Rise  and  fall  of 
tide  about  five  feet  on  the  average.” 

U.  S.  Consul  David  Turner,  residing  at  La  Paz,  in  a  letter  to  the  pro¬ 
jector  of  the  railway,  writes  :  “  Topolobampo  would  be  far  better  situ¬ 
ated  for  a  large  city  than  'either  Guaymas  or  Mazatlan,  as  from  it  the 
interior  would  be  accessible,  while  from  Mazatlan  it  is  almost  impossible, 
to  get  a  good  road  into  the  interior,  as  from  that  point  the  Sierra  Madre 
are  almost  impassable,  and,  besides,  Mazatlan  is  only  an  open  roadstead 
and  cannot  be  made  a  good  harbor  without  an  expenditure  of  many 
millions.  In  September  last  two  brigs  went  ashore  and  went  to  pieces 
at  Mazatlan,  and  there  is  no  escape  for  a  vessel  which  is  caught  there  in 
a  southeaster — a  wind  which  is  very  prevalent  four  months  in  the  year. 
Guaymas  is  too  far  north,  and  although  it  may  always  have  the  trade  of 
the  northern  part  of  Sonora  it  is  shut  off  from  the  trade  of  Chihuahua 
by  the  impracticability  of  the  roads.”  *  *  *  “I  have  never  entered 

the  harbor,  but  am  told  by  Captain  Preble,  U.  S.  N.,  and  others  who 
have  examined  it,  that  it  is  easy  of  access,  a  safe  and  secure  harbor,  and 
can  be  entered  by  vessels  drawing  20  feet  of  water,  and,  in  my  opinion, 
its  location,  good  harbor,  and  other  advantages  indicate  the  right  place 
for  the  most  important  city  on  the  west  coast  of  Mexico.” 


56 


Description  of  City  Site. 

As  may  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  the  map  of  the  harbor,  the  city  site 
at  the  terminus  of  the  railway  is  on  the  north  side  of  the  inner  bay.  It 
has  a  water-front  of  about  7-J-  miles,  and  an  average  width  of  about  3 
miles,  comprising  an  area  of  about  22^-  square  miles.  The  plan  of  the 
city,  as  prepared  by  Mr.  Owen,  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  follow¬ 
ing  page.  In  the  recent  reports  on  the  reconnoissance  of  the  railway 
we  find  the  following: 

Mr.  Simmons  reports  :  “  The  point  selected  as  a  city  site  is  slightly 
elevated  above  the  surrounding  country,  sufficiently  to  insure  a  system 
of  drainage — a  matter  which  I  did  not  find  had  been  considered  in  any 
Mexican  city,  town,  or  village  we  visited.  As  the  city  site  lies  to-day,  it 
is  in  the  most  primitive  condition,  but  viewed  by  comparison  with  the 
beginnings  of  many  rich  cities  of  the  Old  and  New  World  (notably  St. 
Petersburg,  Berlin,  and  Chicago)  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  skill, 
capital,  and  enterprise  will  be  able  to  render  it  speedily  habitable.”1 

Dr.  Carman  reports  :  “  On  the  inner  harbor,  after  passing  the  straits, 
there  is  on  the  northern  side  a  large  extent  of  level  land  that,  close  to 
the  rocky  and  mountainous  straits,  is  low,  and  overflows  in  places  through 
sloughs  that  enter  from  the  lower  bay,  and  which  may  be  filled  up  ;  but 
further  on,  to  the  east  of  the  straits  a  mile  or  more,  the  land  rises  and 
does  not  overflow.  Here  is  the  true  site  to  build  a  town;  the  centre 
should  be  near  and  around  a  hill  called  Mapau,  on  the  waters  edge. 
The  place  is  to-day  in  its  primitive  condition  ;  it  is  wild,  grand,  beauti. 
ful,  capable  of  being  modelled  into  a  useful  and  ample  port.  Nature 
having  provided  it  with  every  advantage,  art  must  come  in  and  fit  it  for 
the  uses  and  conveniences  of  commerce.”  *  *  *  “  The  entire  south¬ 

ern  border  of  both  bays  is  lined  by  a  range  of  low  mountains,  sloping 
to  the  water’s  edge,  and  rising  in  places  to  an  altitude  of  several  hun¬ 
dred  feet,  thus  affording  a  magnificent  view,  and  offering  a  cool  retreat 
for  summer  villas.”  2 

Mr.  Price  reports  :  “  The  northern  shore,  where  the  Fuerte  river 
formerly  emptied  into  the  bay,  is  low  and  marshy,  but  the  abundance  of 
stone  in  the  immediate  vicinity  will  make  the  filling  in  of  this  compara¬ 
tively  cheap.  The  other  lands  covered  by  the  town  site  are  high  and 
well  drained,  and  altogether  they  form  a  beautiful  situation  for  a  large 
city.  The  formation  around  the  bay  being  porphyry,  there  will  be  no 
trouble  in  getting  good  foundations  for  building  purposes.” 3 

1  Report  of  Survey,  p.  9. 

2  Ditto,  p.  24. 

3  Ditto,  p.  34. 


GONZALEZ  CITY. 


57 


Mr.  Owen,  the  projector  of  the  railway,  says  in  a  published  letter  to 
Hon.  Camilo  Vega:  “ Topolobampo,  like  Acapulco,  is  an  extinct  crater, 
and  is  markedly  picturesque.  The  mountains  on  the  south  shore  rise 
immediately  from  the  water’s  edge  to  a  height  of  about  800  feet.  The 
Peak  of  Joshua,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Straits  of  Joshua,  is  reported  by 
Commander  George  Dewey,  U.  S.  Navy,  to  be  876  feet.  Hills  of  por¬ 
phyry  200  to  400  feet  high  stand  on  the  north  side  of  the  said  straits,  and 
immediately  back  of  these  there  are  buttes  of  porphyry  rising  400  feet  to 
897  feet  above  the  bay,  while  the  north  shore  of  the  inner  basin— some¬ 
times  called  San  Carlos,  and  at  others  Oguira  Bay — is  a  plateau  stretching- 
18  miles  to  the  Rio  Fuerte  and  fronting  the  harbor  with  a  shell  bluff  about 
twelve  feet  or  more  above  high  water.  Standing  on  the  site  of  Gonzalez 
city,  which  fronts  for  7£  miles  on  the  shell  bluffs  just  spoken  of,  and 
which  is  already  laid  out  and  mapped,  and  which  contains  221  square 
miles  of  area  *  *  *  and  the  largest  public  reservations  and  parks  in 

any  city  yet  planned,  we  may  look  across  the  San  Carlos  Bay  to  the 
south — at  this  point  six  miles  wide — and  to  the  west  and  enjoy  a  pano¬ 
rama  of  mountain  and  bay  which  for  grandeur  and  picturesqueness  are 
not  surpassed  in  any  part  of  the  world.” 

Climate  .  —Mr.  Owen  says  of  the  inner  bay  in  the  letter  just  referred 
to  :  “  The  atmosphere  is  marked  for  its  clearness,  and  the  temperature 
at  noon  is  never  below  52°  nor  above  86°  winter  or  summer.” 

Col.  Fitch,  who  has  for  many  years  past  resided  upon  the  west  coast 
of  Mexico,  and  who  is  familiar  with  the  Topolobampo  harbor,  writes 
that  it  has  “  a  climate  unrivalled  in  the  world,  partaking  of  both  the 
torrid  and  temperate  zones.” 


Back  Country. 

Hon.  David  Turner,  U.  S.  consul  at  La  Paz,  Lower  California,  writes 
of  Topolobampo :  “It  has  the  finest  back  country  in  the  world,  and  I 
have  been  with  carts  80  miles  on  natural  roads.  A  city  founded  there 
would  almost  kill  Guaymas  and  Mazatlan— for  a  short  time  at  least ;  but 
m  the  long  run  there  is  plenty  of  room  for  all  of  them,  and  there  will  be 
plenty  of  business  if  peace  and  quiet  prevail  and  the  resources  of  the 
country  are  developed.”  By  referring  to  previous  pages  of  this  brief 
the  reader  will  find,  in  the  notes  on  the  precious  metals  and  the  agri¬ 
culture  of  the  Fuerte  valley,  much  more  evidence  upon  this  point.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  few  cities  are  blessed  with  a  back  country  so  rich  in  agri¬ 
culture,  silver,  and  gold  as  that  extending  from  Topolobampo  harbor 
back  to  the  mountains  near  the  eastern  border  of  the  State  of  Sinaloa. 


58 


Gulf  Surroundings. 

The  resources  of  the  waters  on  the  west  of  Topolobampo  are  as  re¬ 
markable  as  those  on  the  land  on  the  east.  The  Gulf  of  California  is 
filled  with  natural  riches  which,  when  developed,  will  become  a  perfect 
bonanza  to  a  city  located  upon  its  shore. 

J.  Ross  Browne,  the  first  United  States  Commissioner  of  Mining  Sta¬ 
tistics,  in  his  work  entitled  “  A  Sketch  of  the  Settlement  and  Explora¬ 
tion  of  Lower  California,”  has  supplied  the  public  with  much  valuable 
information  concerning  the  characteristics  and  resources  of  the  Gulf. 
After  reviewing  the  various  explorations,  &c.,  of  this  part  of  the  Pacific, 
he  adds  :  “Having  in  the  preceding  notices  given  a  sketch  of  the  sea¬ 
shores  and  islands,  and  of  the  succession  and  precession  of  discoveries 
and  navigations  of  Baja  California,  from  the  earliest  records  in  1532  to 
the  present,  (1857,)  we  shall  now  touch  summarily  on  the  extraordinary 
and  wonderful  wealth  of  animal  life  of  its  marine  waters.  From  all  the 
accounts,  histories,  and  voyages  we  have  quoted,  and  from  the  uniform 
testimony  of  those  more  recently  who  have  personally  had  knowledge 
of  these  matters  since  the  discovery  of  gold  in  Upper  California,  it  would 
appear  to  excel  any  portion  of  the  world  in  the  wondrous  fertility  of  its 
fisheries.  As  early  as  1537  and  1539  the  infinite  number  of  whales, 
seals,  and  fur-otters,  of  numberless  varieties,  were  noted  by  Ulloa,  who 
first  completely  navigated  the  shores  of  the  peninsula  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Colorado  to  Cape  San  Lucas,  and  thence  on  the  ocean  coast  up  to 
Cedros  Island.  Then  all  kinds  of  shell-fish,  or  mollusca,  and  of  Crus¬ 
tacea,  such  as  lobsters,  crabs,  crawfish,  &c.,  number  by  the  thousand  of 
species  and  all  in  great  abundance,  and  of  excellent  edible  qualities,  as 
well  as  the  family  of  turtles.  The  proper  family  of  fishes  of  all  known 
genera  are  found  in  every  bay  and  harbor  in  such  extraordinary  quanti¬ 
ties,  and  of  such  excellent  dietetic  qualities,  as  to  have  been  remarked 
by  every  navigator  or  writer  we  have  mentioned  or  read  of,  and  it  is  to 
the  present  time  a  matter  of  wonder  to  every  visitor  to  Lower  Cali¬ 
fornia.  Except  the  mollusca,  cetacea,  and  phocidea,  this  great  field  of 
nature  has  been  but  little  explored  by  the  naturalist,  leaving  in  the  true 
fishes  vast  numbers  to  be  yet  added  to  the  stores  of  science  and  human 
utility.  Many  of  the  fishes. and  shells  are  not  only  very  curious,  but  of 
extraordinary  beauty,  and  highly  prized  by  connoisseurs.”  *  *  *  “  It 
is,  therefore,  evident  that  the  fisheries  of  this  country  are  to  become  a 
world  of  -wondrous  wealth  to  its  future  inhabitants — of  incalculable 
benefit  to  the  laboring  classes  in  reducing  the  cost  of  living  and  render 
ing  them  independent  of  the  cruel  exactions  of  capital  or  the  fickle 


59 


wheels  of  commercial  prosperity  or  depressions.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  finest  varieties  of  our  edible  oysters  could  be  bred  and  culti¬ 
vated  to  supply  all  the  Pacific  domain  forever,  as  doubtless  could  be 
done  with  the  pearl  oysters — as  is  the  case  in  some  parts  of  the  Oriental 
World — and  the  same  holds  good  with  the  cultivation  of  sponges,  which 
is  an  extremely  valuable  business  on  the  shores  of  the  Grecian  Archi¬ 
pelago.  The  real  tortoise-shell  turtle  is  also  found  on  both  coasts  of  the 
peninsula,  and  the  different  species  of  the  edible  turtle  are  particularly 
abundant,  and  in  many  places  so  easy  of  access  as  to  be  had  for  the 
trouble  of  capture,  and  are  frequently  brought  to  San  Francisco.”1 

On  a  subsequent  page  he  says :  “  Pearl  oysters  are  not  found  every¬ 
where  on  the  coast,  but  intercalate  at  intervals,  preferring  well-sheltered 
bays  or  harbors,  where  fresh  water  empties ;  but  this  rule  is  not  inva¬ 
riable.  They  are  met  with  for  over  1,000  miles  of  shore  line  between 
Magdalena  and  around  the  Cape,  and  all  the  way  up  the  Gulf,  north 
above  Angel  Guardian  Island,  and  the  missionary  writers  state  that 
after  hurricanes  they  are  known  to  have  been  thrown  up  on  the  beaches 
by  the  car-load.”  *  *  *  “  Ordinary  pearls  are  always  abundant  every 

year,  but  extraordinary  sizes  and  colors  are  very  rare.  The  most  splen¬ 
did  of  the  pearls  in  the  Spanish  regalia  were  brought  from  the  Gulf  of 
California  before  Napoleon’s  invasion,  and  they  had  always  been  in  high 
demand  in  Spain  since  the  days  of  Cortez.  An  American  minister,  in 
1863,  says  that  some  of  these  pearls  were  as  large  as  pigeons’  eggs,  and 
were  among  the  most  valuable  jewels  in  the  crown  regalia.”2 

On  another  page  he  says  :  “  There  are  stated  to  be  guano  deposits  on 
several  of  the  islets  and  rocks  of  the  upper  Gulf  sections,  where  myriads 
of  sea  fowl  congregate  ;  and  as  rains  are  infrequent  there,  the  quality  is 
doubtless  profitable  to  work.” 3 

Of  Carman  Island,  which  is  directly  across  the  Gulf  from  Topolo- 
bampo  harbor,  he  says :  “It  contains,  beyond  all  dispute,  the  richest, 
most  peculiar,  amd  most  accessible  salt-mine  in  the  world,  and  entirely 
inexhaustible.  The  Jesuits,  about  1730,  asked  from  the  Viceroy  a  grant 
of  this  mine  in  perpetuity,  from  which  they  would  maintain  their  Cali¬ 
fornia  establishments  free  of  cost  to  the  King’s  treasury.”4  This  deposit 
becomes  of  great  importance  in  connection  with  the  fishing  industry, 
which  railway  transportation  from  the  Gulf  is  bound  to  stimulate. 

The  above  statement  by  Mr.  Browne  about  the  value  of  the  pearl  fish- 

1  A  Sketch  of  the  Settlement  and  Exploration  of  Lower  California,  p.  48. 

3  Ditto,  pp.  62  and  63. 

3  Ditto,  p.  64. 

4  Ditto,  p.  8. 


60 


eries  is  more  than  confirmed  by  a  recent  editorial  in  the  Mexican  Fi¬ 
nancier  of  January  13,  1883,  as  follows:  “The  pearl  fisheries  near  La 
Paz,  in  Lower  California,  are  not  a  recent  industry,  though  they  have 
recently  attracted  great  attention.  For  more  than  twenty  years  they 
have  been  pursued  in  a  quiet  and  somewhat  unsystematic  manner,  but 
have  been  the  means  of  very  large  wealth  to  many  families  who  have 
controlled  the  riparian  rights.  Some  remarkable  pearls  lately  found 
there  have  excited  much  interest.  Three  such  extraordinary  events  have 
taken  place  during  the  past  month.  Probably  the  largest  pearl  on  record? 
weighing  75  carats,  was  found  towards  the  close  of  December.  The 
fisherman  sold  it  on  the  spot  for  $14,000,  which,  however,  was  an  in¬ 
significant  sum  compared  with  its  real  value.  Now  comes  the  announce¬ 
ment  that  one  of  the  fisherman  employed  has  just  discovered  a  finely 
tinted  and  perfectly  formed  pearl  weighing  47  carats,  and  valued  on  the 
spot  at  $5,000  ;  while  yet  another  pearl  was  found  about  the  same  time, 
smaller  than  the  former,  but  of  perfect  shape,  weighing  40  carats  and 
valued  at  $3,000.  We  have  already  remarked  that  American  buyers 
have  hitherto  strangely  ignored  that  promising  district ;  but  large  Euro¬ 
pean  houses  are  represented  by  resident  agents,  under  whose  purchase 
all  the  products  of  these  fisheries  are  shipped  to  European  markets.” 

Mr.  Owen,  writes  :  “  There  are  inexhaustible  quantities  of  the  finest 
oysters  found  in  all  sections  of  the  eastern  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  California. 
Those  of  Guaymas,  Navachista,  Altata,  and  Mazatlan  are  well  known  and 
are  equal  in  flavor  and  size  to  any  found  in  the  Chesapeake.  Those  of 
Altata  are  as  remarkable  as  the  celebrated  Lynn  Haven  Bay  oysters  for 
size  and  fatness.  The  Chinese  have  during  the  past  year  been  canning 
oysters,  fish,  and  turtles  near  Mazatlan,  and  sending  them  to  San  Fran¬ 
cisco  ;  and  as  the  interior  of  Mexico  is  devoid  of  fish  of  every  kind,  and 
the  people  there  are  Catholics,  this  industry  when  railway  transportation 
is  supplied  must  become  of  vast  importance.” 

In  this  chapter  we  have  invited  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  local 
surroundings  of  the  harbor  and  city  site.  If,  in  connection  with  these 
advantages,  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  city  is  the  natural  outlet  for  one  of 
the  richest  silver  countries  in  the  world,  the  terminus  of  a  great  trans¬ 
continental  railway,  and  a  most  desirable  starting  point  for  the  foreign 
commerce  of  the  South  Sea,  the  conclusion  naturally  follows  that  Gon¬ 
zalez  City  is  destined  to  become  one  of  the  greatest  cities  upon  the  Pacific 
coast. 


TOPOLOBAMPO  AS  A  STARTING  POINT  FOR  PACIFIC  AND  ORIENTAL  TRADE. 


X. 


TOPOLOBAMPO  AS  A  STARTING  POINT  FOR  PACIFIC  AND 
ORIENTAL  TRADE. 


Trade  Statistics. 


NE  unfamiliar  with  the  trade  statistics  of  the  foreign  countries  sur- 


v/  rounding  the  Pacific  Ocean  would  very  naturally  say,  after  examin¬ 
ing  the  air-line  diagrams  on  a  previous  page,  “  It  is  true  the  Topolo- 
bamp  o  route  is  a  short  way  to  the  Pacific  coast,  but  when  you  reach  its 
terminus  you  are  too  far  south  for  the  principal  foreign  trade  of  the 


Pacific.” 


In  reply  we  state  from  official  sources  that  more  than  four-fifths  of 
the  total  annual  commerce  of  the  foreign  nations  surrounding  this 
ocean  is  on  steamship  lines  south  of  the  latitude  of  Topolobampo. 

China  and  Japan  are  of  course  north  of  the  latitude  of  Topolobampo, 
but  the  annual  foreign  commerce  of  these  two  countries  combined  is  but 
a  trifle  more  than  half  that  of  Australasia  alone. 

This  point  may  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  the  statistical  map  on  the 
opposite  page,  the  value  of  the  total  annual  foreign  trade  (exports  and 
imports  combined)  of  each  country  being  opposite  the  steamship  line 
projected  from  Topolobampo. 


Ocean  Distances.1 


Topolobampo  is  1,144  statute  miles  nearer  Callao,  Valparaiso,  and  the 
other  ports  of  the  west  coast  of  South  America  than  is  its  chief  commer¬ 
cial  rival,  San  Francisco. 

The  distance  from  San  Francisco  to  Auldand,  New  Zealand,  is  6,537 
miles,  and  from  Topolobampo  to  the  same  point  it  is  213  greater,  or 
6,750  miles. 

But  in  going  from  Newr  York  to  Aukland  by  way  of  Topolobampo  the 
saving  by  land  (744  miles)  more  than  counterbalances  the  213  miles  loss 
by  ocean.  In  other  words,  the  through  route  from  New  York  to  Auk- 

1  All  ocean  distances  under  this  head  were  officially  prepared  by  the  hydrographic 
inspector  of  the  U.  S.  Coast  Survey,  and  have  been  reduced  from  nautical  to  statute 
miles,  so  that  they  may  be  combined  with  land  distances.  They  were  (except  when 
otherwise  expressly  stated)  all  measured  along  “the  most  favorable  steamer  routes.” 

6i 


62 


land  by  way  of  Topolobampo  is  531  miles  shorter  than  that  via  San 
Francisco. 

From  San  Francisco  to  Sydney,  Australia,  is  7,383  miles,  while  from 
Topolobampo  it  is  7,923 — a  loss  of  540  miles.  But  the  land  saving 
from  New  York  to  Topolobampo  being  744  miles,  the  through  trip  to 
Sydney  via'  Topolobampo  is  204  miles  shorter  than  by  way  of  San 
Francisco. 

From  Topolobampo  to  India,  (Calcutta,)  the  distance  by  steamer  route 
is  1,656  miles  greater  than  from  San  Francisco.  Deducting  from  this 
the  saving  by  rail  from  New  York  in  favor  of  the  Topolobampo  route, 
(744  miles,)  and  the  loss  on  the  through  trip  from  New  York  is  only  912 
miles. 

But  if  we  contrast  the  distances  between  these  points  by  the  most 
favorable  route  for.  sailing  vessels ,  instead  of  steamers ,  the  result  is  quite 
different.  The  sailing  distance  from  San  Francisco  to  Calcutta  is 
12,443  miles,  and  from  Topolobampo  to  the  same  port,  13,121 — a  loss  of 
but  678  miles,  which  is  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  saving  of  744 
miles  by  land  from  New  York — making  a  saving  on  the  through  trip 
from  New  York  to  India  of  66  miles. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  observed  that  from  the  economic  stand¬ 
point — the  saving  in  freight  charges — a  saving  of  744  miles  by  rail  is 
sufficient,  it  is  thought,  to  counterbalance  a  loss  of  five  times  that,  or 
3,720  miles  by  water.  During  the  year  1880  the  average  freight  charge 
per  ton  per  mile  on  thirteen  of  the  leading  railroads  of  the  United 
States  was  1tf«t  cents.1  It  was  recently  stated  in  an  unofficial  publica¬ 
tion  that  the  average  rate  per  ton  per  mile  on  the  ocean  is  but  one-fifth 
that  on  land,  or  only  two  mills.2  If  this  estimate  is  correct,  or  only 
approximately  correct,  it  follows  that  from  the  standpoint  of  economy  in 
transportation  the  route  from  New  York  via  Topolobampo  to  each  and 
every  foreign  port  on  the  Pacific  is  shorter  than  that  via  San  Francisco. 

Pacific  Currents. 

In  Findlay’s  “  North  Pacific  Directory,”  which  work  is  the  leading 
authority  on  this  subject,  is  the  following  description  of  the  currents : 
“  The  North  Pacific  is  the  most  simple  in  the  arrangement  of  its  currents. 
It  is  a  basin  of  circulation  around  a  central  area  lying  along  the  tropics, 
analogous  to  the  Sargasso  Sea  in  the  North  Atlantic,  and  having  the 
same  feature  of  a  broad  equatorial  stream  setting  westward  with  more 

1  Third  Annual  Report  on  Internal  Commerce.  Appendix  No.  36. 

3  Prospectus  of  the  Galveston  and  Eagle  Pass  Air-Line  Railway,  page  13. 


63 


or  less  constancy,  between  8°  or  10°  north  and  the  tropic,  a  reverting 
and  strongly  marked  current ;  the  Japanese  current,  similar  to  the  Gulf 
Stream,  and  a  broad  extra  tropical  belt,  setting  generally  eastward,  but 
subject  to  much  fluctuation.”  The  northern  limit  of  the  equatorial  cur¬ 
rent  here  described  is  nearly  opposite  Topolobampo,  the  stream  flowing 
from  the  west  coast  of  Mexico  directly  across  the  Pacific  to  the  Orient. 
Labrosse,  in  his  Treatise  on  the  navigation  of  the  Pacific,1  thus  alludes 
to  it :  “According  to  the  researches  of  Capt.  Duperrey  the  waters  of  the 
Pacific  show,  in  the  intertropical  regions,  a  tendency  to  drift  towards 
the  west  with  a  variable  rate,  the  mean  rate  of  this  movement  being 
about  24  miles  per  day.” 

Pacific  Trade-Winds. 

In  co-operation  with  this  westward  current  is  the  northeast  wind, 
which  also  extends  from  the  Mexican  coast  westward  across  the  Pacific. 
Findlay  thus  mentions  it  in  connection  with  the  other  winds :  “The 
general  anemalogical  arrangement  of  the  North  Pacific  is  thus :  To  the 
northward  of  about  lat.  30°  (a  parallel  varying  with  the  season)  are 
formed  the  S.W.  anti-trade  winds ;  between  that  parallel  and  lat.  7°  or 
10°  N.,  (also  varying  with  the  sun’s  declination,)  is  found  theN.E.  trade- 
wind,  and  between  the  last-named  parallel  and  the  northern  point  of  the 
S.E.  trade-wind  is  a  narrow  belt  of  calms  or  variable  winds  to  which  the 
name  of  ‘  Doldrums  ’  has  been  applied ;  it  is  a  well-known  belt  of  diffi¬ 
culty  to  the  sailor.”  As  Topolobampo  is  at  lat.  25°  327,  it  is  within  the 
limits  of  the  N.E.  trade-wind  here  described. 

Under  the  head  of  “  Passages,”  Findlay  says  on  a  subsequent  page : 
“  From  what  has  been  said  of  the  meteorology  of  the  North  Pacific  it 
will  be  manifest  that  its  navigation  is  simple  and  easy  in  every  part,  with 
the  important  exceptions  of  those  places  lying  in  the  belt  of  calms,  &c., 
especially  the  bay  of  Panama.  A  voyage  across  the  Pacific  is  carried  on 
without  difficulty,  going  eastward  in  the  extra  tropical  portion  influenced 
by  the  anti-trade  wind,  and  to  the  westward  within  the  area  of  the  N.E. 
trade-wind.  This  applies  to  the  eastern  portion  of  the  ocean,  and  what¬ 
ever  variations  from  a  direct  course  on  the  western  side  may  be  neces¬ 
sary  are  due  to  the  shifting  monsoons  of  China  and  other  Asiatic 
coasts.” 

It  is  then  very  apparent  that  both  winds  and  currents  are  favorable  to 
an  almost  direct  passage  of  sailing  vessels  from  Topolobampo  to  the 
Orient. 

1  The  navigation  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  China  Seas,  &c.,  by  Mons.  F.  Labrosse. 


64 


As  an  Outlet  for  Mexican  Silver. 

In  the  report  to  Congress  in  1877,  the  U.  S.  Monetary  Commission, 
usually  called  the  Silver  Commission,  said  :  “  Asia  has  been  known  in 
all  historical  times  as  the  sink  of  silver.”  They  substantiated  the  truth 
of  this  assertion  by  statistics,  which  show  that  there  were  imported  by 
British  India  alone  during  the  years  1836  and  1875,  inclusive,  (a  period 
of  40  years,)  about  $1,000,000,000  in  silver,  or  $25,000,000  per  year.1 
And  they  further  stated  that  during  the  year  1876  England  alone  ex¬ 
ported  to  India  and  China  $45,975,438  in  silver.  Of  course,  England 
did  not  produce  this  silver,  but  first  imported  it  from  Mexico  and  the 
Western  States  of  the  United  States.  In  reaching  its  final  destination 
it  had  then  to  be  transported  nearly  around  the  earth.  The  question 
naturally  arises,  why  not  ship  it  from  the  western  coast  of  Northern 
Mexico  directly  across  the  Pacific  to  China,  Japan,  and  India?  Cer¬ 
tainly,  Northern  Mexico  can  supply  the  whole  demand,  for  from  1492  to 
1875,  inclusive,  Mexico’s  silver  product  amounted  to  the  enormous  total 
of  $3,262,370,247,  and  the  Northern  States  of  that  Republic  are  the 
richest  of  all  in  silver  deposits. 

The  present  annual  silver  product  of  Mexico  is  upwards  of  $26,000,000, 
and  her  principal  item  of  export  is  invariably  silver.  In  1873  her  export 
of  precious  metals  was  $25,373,673,  nearly  all  of  which  was  silver. 

It  requires  but  a  glance  at  these  figures  to  see  that  Topolobampo  may 
be  made  the  outlet  for  a  silver  supply  sufficient  for  the  Oriental  demand, 
and  in  return  an  inlet  for  teas,  silks,  spices,  and  other  valuable  commodi¬ 
ties  of  the  East. 

1  Report  of  Monetary  Commission,  Senate  Report  703,  44th  Cong.,  2d  sess.,  pp. 
74-76. 


XI. 


FERNANDINA  HARBOR  AND  CITY  SITE. 


Description  of  Harbor. 

FROM  notes  kindly  furnished  by  Hon.  D.  L.  Yulee  we  submit  the  fol¬ 
lowing  brief  statement  concerning  the  harbor  and  city  site : 

The  entrance  from  the  sea  to  the  harbor  of  Fernandina  is  through  the 
Cumberland  Sound.  This  sound  or  bay  is  very  capacious  and  affords 
well  protected  anchorage,  in  depths  of  from  30  to  70  feet,  the  depths  of 
30  to  50  feet  at  lowT  water  extending  up  and  into  the  harbor  of  Fernan¬ 
dina.  The  entrance  to  Cumberland  Sound  is  obstructed  by  a  narrow 
sand  bar,  wrhich  at  present  admits  only  the  same  draught  as  at  Charles¬ 
ton  and  Savannah.  This  obstruction  removed,  the  deepest  vessels  afloat 
could  sail  up  to  the  wharves  at  Fernandina.  An  improvement  of  this 
Cumberland  entrance  is  now  in  progress,  under  charge  of  engineers  of 
the  United  States,  which  will  afford  an  available  draught  at  ordinary  high 
tide  of  26  to  27  feet  and  at  spring  tides  of  28  to  29  feet,  and  Gen.  Q. 
A.  Gillmore,  under  whose  superintendence  the  work  is  being  executed, 
reports  to  the  Secretary  of  War  that  “  a  greater  depth  can  be  secured  by 
raising  the  height  of  the  jetties.” 

The  harbor  proper  is  extensive,  deep,  closely  land-locked,  with  good 
holding  ground,  and  has  bold  shores,  making  wharfing  easy  and  cheap ; 
and  has  connected  with  it  very  capacious  and  well  protected  anchorages 
between  its  wharves  and  the  sea.  The  shores  suitable  for  wharves 
begin  within  three  miles  of  the  outer  sea  buoy.  Among  other  incidental 
advantages  of  this  harbor  is  that  the  water  procurable  for  ships  is  of 
such  remarkable  quality  that  it  is  carried  upon  voyages  across  the  equa¬ 
tor  to  Montevideo  and  other  South  American  ports  and  back  to  Fer¬ 
nandina,  without  undergoing  any  change,  or  losing  its  purity  and  fitness 
for  drinking. 

Gen’l  Gillmore  states  in  the  following  letter,  what  results  are  designed 
by  the  works  in  progress  at  the  entrance  of  Cumberland  Sound: 

65 


66 


United  States  Engineer’s  Office, 

New  York,  August  16,  1881. 

Hon.  D.  L.  Yulee: 

Dear  Sir  :  In  reply  to  your  communication  of  the  15th  inst.,  I  have 
the  honor  to  say  that  the  low  jetties  I  am  now  constructing  at  the  en¬ 
trance  to  Cumberland  Sound  will,  in  my  opinion,  maintain  a  low-wrater 
depth  of  twenty-one  feet ;  and  a  greater  depth  than  that  can  be  secured 
by  building  the  jetties  higher  than  they  were  originally  designed. 

If  appropriations  are  made  in  accordance  with  my  estimates  the  works 
can  be  finished  in  three  to  four  years. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Q.  A.  GILLMOBE. 

Lt.-Col.  Engineer  and  Bt.  Maj-Gen. 

The  mean  rise  of  tide  at  Cumberland  entrance  is  six  feet,  and  of 
spring  tides  7  to  8  feet. 

The  following  extract  from  report  of  Gen’l  Totten,  Chief  Engineer  U. 
S.  Army,  in  1844,  (Ex.  doc.  2,  2d  sess.  28th  Cong.,)  is  a  very  pointed 
tribute  to  the  merits  of  the  harbor : 

“A  very  fine  survey,  recently  completed  by  an  officer  of  topographical 
engineers,  of  the  mouth  of  St.  Mary’s  river,  or  of  Cumberland  Sound,  con¬ 
firms  the  opinion  long  entertained  that  this,  the  most  southern  harbor 
on  the  coast  of  Georgia,  is  also  one  of  the  safest  and  most  accessible.” 

In  1861,  pending  the  late  civil  conflict,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ap¬ 
pointed  a  commission  of  remarkably  eminent  men  in  naval,  military,  and 
civil  employment  for  the  selection  of  a  suitable  harbor  on  the  Southern 
coast  for  naval  rendezvous  and  supply.  They  made  the  following 
report : 

July  5th,  1861. 

lion.  Gideon  Welles: 

Sir:  We  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  the  conference,  in  com¬ 
pliance  with  your  wishes  communicated  through  Captain  Dupont,  has 
had  under  consideration  that  part  of  your  letter  of  instructions,  of  the 
25th  ultimo,  which  relates  to  the  necessity  of  occupying  twT0  or  more 
points  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  Fernandina  being  particularly  mentioned 
as  one  of  these  points. 

It  seems  to  be  indispensable  that  there  should  exist  a  convenient  coal 
depot  on  the  southern  extremity  of  the  line  of  Atlantic  blockade  ;  and  it 
occurs  to  the  conference  that  if  this  coal  depot  were  suitably  selected  it 
might  he  used,  not  only  as  a  depot  for  coal,  but  as  a  depot  of  provisions 
and  common  stores,  as  a  harbor  of  refuge,  and  as  a  general  rendezvous 
or  headquarters  for  that  part  of  the  coast. 

We  separate  in  our  minds  the  two  enterprises  of  a  purely  military 
expedition  and  an  expedition  the  principal  design  of  which  is  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  a  naval  station  for  promoting  the  efficiency  of  the  blockade. 


67 


We  shall  have  the  honor  to  present  plans  for  both  expeditions :  but  we 
will  begin  with  the  latter,  premising,  however,  that  we  think  both  of 
them  should  be  conducted  simultaneously. 

Fernandina  is,  by  its  position,  obviously  the  most  desirable  point  for 
a  place  of  deposit,  answering  at  one  end  of  the  line,  to  Hampton  Roads 
at  the  other. 

In  addition  to  its  position  in  this  respect,  it  enjoys  several  other  advan¬ 
tages  almost  peculiar  to  itself,  and  well  suited  to  the  object  in  view.  It 
has  fourteen  feet  of  water  on  the  bar  at  low  water,  and  twenty  at  high 
water,  a  convenient  depth  for  all  steam  vessels  of  the  navy,  either  pro¬ 
pelled  by  screws  or  side- wheels,  rated  as  “  second-class  steam  sloops  ” 
and  under,  for  all  those  rated  as  first-class  steam  sloops  ”  which  are 
propelled  by  screws,  and  by  most  of  the  same  class  propelled  by  side- 
wheels  when  light,  and  by  all  the  newly-purchased  and  chartered  steamers 
of  every  description,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  one  or  two  of  the 
very  largest  mail-packet  steamers  when  deeply  loaded. 

These  depths  are  perfectly  convenient  for  the  new  sloops  and  gun¬ 
boats  now  on  the  stocks,  and  for  the  ordinary  merchant  vessels  pur¬ 
chased  or  chartered  for  freight.  The  main  ship  channel  over  St.  Mary’s 
bar  into  Fernandina  harbor,  though  not  direct,  is  by  no  means  tortuous 
or  difficult ;  it  is  easily  defined  by  buoys,  and  a  range  by  means  of  bea¬ 
cons  renders  the  passage  of  the  bar  itself  secure. 

Inside  of  the  bar  there  is  an  unlimited  extent  of  deep-water  accommo¬ 
dation,  and  also  the  protection  of  smooth  water  before  reaching  the 
land-locked  basins. 

The  anchorage  in  Amelia  river  possesses  the  quiet  and  safety  of  an 
enclosed  dock.  Repairs  of  all  kinds  may  be  carried  on  without  the  fear 

of  accident  arising  from  motion  of  the  water. 

*  *  ****** 

We  are  careful  to  avoid  making  this  communication  unnecessarily  long 
by  entering  upon  a  comparison  of  Fernandina  with  other  places  in  the 
same  region  of  coast — such  as  Bruns  vick,  for  example,  which  is  now 
connected  by  railroad  with  Savannah,  and  being  more  in  the  interior,  is 
less  healthy ;  or  St.  John's  entrance,  *  *  *  which  has  an  insuperable 

objection  in  its  bar ;  but  we  take  pains  to  say  that  such  comparisons 
have  formed  a  large  part  of  our  study  of  the  whole  subject.  We  have 
not  spoken  of  the  peculiar  advantages  of  Fernandina  as  a  depot  and 
naval  station  without  attaching  a  meaning  to  the  word. 

S.  F.  DUPONT, 
Captain  U.  S.  JVavy,  President. 

J.  G.  BARNARD, 
Major  U.  S.  Engineers ,  Member. 

A.  D.  BACHE, 

Superintendent  U.  S.  Coast  Survey ,  Member. 

C.  H.  DAVIS, 

Commander  XJ.  S.  JVavy,  Member  and  Secretary. 


68 


Description  of  City  Site. 

The  city  of  Fernandina  is  situated  upon  a  sea  island,  entirely  sur¬ 
rounded  by  the  salt  water  of  the  ocean.  No  rivers  -with  alluvial  banks 
or  fresh  water  connect  with  it.  It  is  in  latitude  30.40,  longitude  W. 
81.26,  at  the  head  of  the  Florida  Peninsula,  and  has  therefore  a  mild 
winter  climate,  and  being  washed  on  its  eastern  side  by  the  open  At¬ 
lantic  Ocean,  and  situated  on  the  edge  of  the  belt  of  northeast  trade- 
winds,  is  always  fanned  by  refreshing  sea  breezes,  and  a  healthful  and 
pleasant  temperature  maintained  throughout  the  summer. 


FERNANDINA  AS  A  COMMERCIAL  GATEWAY. 


XII. 


FERNANDINA  AS  A  COMMERCIAL  GATEWAY. 

The  diagram  on  the  previous  page  shows  that  few  cities  have  such  re¬ 
markable  geographical  position  as  Fernandina.  Its  elements  of  future 
commercial  greatness  are  on  a  level  with  those  of  Gonzalez  City  at  the 
other  end  of  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  line. 

To  Southern  Railways. 

It  is  a  natural  gateway  to  the  American  and  Mexican  and  Pacific 
trunk-line  and  to  the  railway  system  of  the  whole  South  for  commerce 
from  our  own  Atlantic  ports  and  the  ports  of  Europe. 

To  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  Mississippi  Valley. 

It  is  a  gateway  for  vessels  from  the  Atlantic  ports  of  North  America 
and  Europe  to  the  ship  canal  projected  across  Florida.  It  is  also  the 
starting  point  for  a  railway  already  in  operation  across  the  State  to 
the  Gulf  at  Cedar  Keys.  In  other  words,  it  is  the  gateway  to  the  many 
important  ports  of  the  United  States  and  Mexico  resting  upon  the  Gulf, 
or  American  Mediterranean,  as  it  is  frequently  and  appropriately  called. 
’  Above  all,  it  is  the  starting  point  for  the  short  and  direct  ship  canal  or 
water  line  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  river,  which, 
with  its  42  navigable  tributaries,  intersects  21  States  and  Territories,  and 
is  navigable  to  the  extent  of  15,710  miles. 

To  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  and  Pacific  Ocean. 

It  is  also  the  gateway  to  the  proposed  ship  canal  across  Florida  and 
the  ship  railway  across  Tehuantepec,  which  transit  lines  are  intimately 
related  and  inter-dependent.  It  is  therefore  the  gateway  to  the  immense 
future  commerce,  which,  after  passing  through  the  Gulf  and  Isthmus, 
will  diverge  to  the  ports  of  the  Pacific  and  Orient. 

69 


70 


To  Atlantic  Seaboard  and  Europe. 

To  reverse  the  picture  it  is  the  gateway  for  the  coast-wise  and  ocean 
commerce  coming  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  river,  the  Gulf 
ports  of  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  the  ports  of  the  Pacific  and 
Orient  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  thence  diverging  to  the  ports  of  our 
own  Atlantic  coast,  Canada,  and  Europe. 


/ 


THE  WEAK  SIDE  OF  OUR  FOREIGN  COMMERCE,  OR  COMMERCIAL  NECESSITY  FOR  ANOTHER 


XIII. 


COMMERCIAL  NECESSITY  FOR  ANOTHER  PACIFIC  RAILWAY. 


The  Weak  Side  of  Our  Foreign  Commerce. 

AS  stated  in  the  Historical  Notes,  the  transportation  lines  of  the 
United  States  from  the  interior  to  the  seaboard  have  heretofore  been 
chiefly  to  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  ports,  and  outlets  to  the  Pacific  have 
been  sadly  neglected.  But  two  Pacific  railways  have  been  completed — 
the  Union  and  Central  Pacific  line,  opened  in  1869,  and  the  Southern 
Pacific  opened  in  1881.  They  are  insufficient  for  the  adequate  devel¬ 
opment  of  our  foreign  commerce  with  the  countries  and  islands  of  the 
Pacific  and  Orient,  as  may  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  official  trade  sta¬ 
tistics. 

According  to  the  State  Department  Report  on  Commercial  Relations 
for  1879,  the  total  foreign  commerce  of  those  countries  on  the  west  (ex¬ 
ports  and  imports  of  merchandise  combined)  was  $1,755,379,695,  of  which 
the  whole  United  States  controlled  but  $72,743,116,  or  only  four  per 
cent. 

The  statement  in  detail  is  as  follows  : 


Australasia . 

British  Indies . . 

China .  . 

Dutch  Asiatic  Possessions 

Hong  Kong . 

Straits  Settlements . 

Peru . . 

Chili  . : . 

Japan . . 

Ceylon . 

Philippine  Islands . 

French  Cochin-China . 

Ecuador . 

Hawaiian  Islands . . 

Total . 


Total foreign  commerce 
with  all  nations. 

Share  of  the  same 
to  and  from  the 
United  States. 

..  $460,436,000 

$7,985,000 

423,017,000 

10,592,000 

198,000,000 

12,187,000 

129,000,000 

5,800,000 

112,000,000 

4,933,000 

107,620,000 

1,200,000 

75,000,000 

3,300,000 

58,000,000 

2,665,000 

55,230,000 

10,874,000 

46,852,000 

600,000 

34,763,600 

5,781,000 

.  31,000,000  none 

separately  reported. 

16,937,000 

1,280,000 

7,524,695 

5,546,116 

.  $1,755,379,695 

$72,743,116 

or  only  four  per  cent. 

72 


But  part  of  the  trifling  4  per  cent,  controlled  by  the  whole  United 
States  is  to  and  from  San  Francisco,  which  port  represents  substantially 
all  commerce  to  and  from  our  Pacific  ports.  The  balance  of  said  per¬ 
centage  is  chiefly  to  and  from  our  Atlantic  ports,  by  way  of  distant  Cape 
Horn  and  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

Contrasting  the  three  sides  of  the  United  States  which  face  the  ocean, 
we  find  on  the  east  an  intricate  net-work  of  steamship  lines  spread  over 
the  Atlantic  between  our  ports  and  Europe  ;  on  the  south,  American 
countries  and  islands,  viz!,  Mexico,  the  West  Indies,  Central  and  South 
America,  with  a  total  annual  commerce  of  $928,027,200  in  value,  of 
which  the  United  States  controls  22  per  cent.,  and  on  the  west  an  im¬ 
mense  foreign  trade,  in  which  the  United  States  has  almost  no  participa¬ 
tion. 

From  the  standpoint  of  our  own  annual  foreign  trade,  the  percent¬ 
age  on  the  Pacific  side  is  almost  equally  small,  viz  :  1 

Total  foreign  commerce  of  the  United  States  (exports  and  imports  of 
merchandise,  coin,  and  bullion  combined)  during  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30,  1880,  $1,613,770,633  in  value. 

Share  of  the  same  to  and  from  our  principal  Atlantic  and  Gulf  ports, 
$1,430,322,592. 

Share  of  the  same  to  and  from  our  minor  ports,  (chiefly  on  Atlantic  and 
Gulf,)  $101,823,822. 

Share  of  the  same  to  and  from  San  Francisco,  (which  port  represents 
substantially  all  commerce  to  and  from  our  Pacific  ports,)  $81,624,249,  or 
only  five  per  cent. — not  all  of  which  is  with  Pacific  and  Oriental  coun¬ 
tries,  but  a  part  with  Europe. 

Our  Foreign  Commerce  of  the  Second  Century. 

The  second  century  of  the  Republic  is  likely  to  be  distinguished  for 
its  commercial  relations  with  the  outside  world.  The  first  century  was 
chiefly  devoted  to  internal  development  and  transportation  lines,  but  the 
nation  has  outgrown  the  restraints  of  home  affairs,  and  now  seeks  a 
broader  field  of  action — a  new  merchant  marine  and  new  foreign  markets 
for  its  surplus  products  and  manufactures.  The  disgracefully  weak  spot 
in  our  foreign  commerce  above  described  must  be  built  up  and  strength¬ 
ened.  The  exports  of  the  United  States  have  heretofore  been  one-sided, 
not  only  in  destination,  but  in  quality.  Agriculture  was  the  first  in¬ 
dustry  to  be  developed  in  the  new  Republic,  and  agricultural  products 
and  raw  materials  have  constituted  the  chief  portion  of  our  shipments 

1  Compiled  from  Statistical  Abstract  No.  3,  of  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Statistics. 


73 


abroad.  During  the  three  fiscal  years  ending  June  30,  1879,  the  per¬ 
centage  of  domestic  exports  which  were  agricultural  (viz.,  bread  and 
breadstuffs,  raw  cotton,  provisions  and  leaf  tobacco)  was  as  follows  : 


1877  . 68  per  cent. 

1878  . 73  “ 

1879  . 73  “ 


But  this  statement  does  not  show  the  distinction  between  the  exports 
of  manufactured  and  unmanufactured  articles  as  clearly  as  one  given  in 
the  Annual  Report  on  Commerce  and  Navigation  for  1877,  which  covered 
a  period  of  three  years  ending  June  30,  1877,  viz:1 

Domestic  Exports.  1873.  187b.  /<?77. 

Crude  or  partially  manufactured  articles.  $492,996,479  $522,139,920  $554,744,111 
Manufactured  articles .  66,241,159  72,677,051  78,235,969 

The  small  export  of  manufactures  here  shown  is,  indeed,  another  weak 
spot  in  our  foreign  commerce. 

The  time  has  now  come  when  the  industries  of  the  United  States 
should  be  diversified.  Instead  of  exporting  so  large  a  percentage  of  raw 
products,  we  should  reap  the  additional  profit  of  transforming  them  into 
manufactures.  But  Europe  prefers  to  purchase  our  raw  material  and 
manufacture  for  herself  and  other  parts  of  the  world.  Hence,  we  can¬ 
not  find  there  the  market  we  need.  We  must,  rather,  look  to  the  coun¬ 
tries  and  islands  surrounding  the  Pacific,  which  are  deficient  in  manu¬ 
factures  and  which  will  gladly  buy  of  us  when  the  Pacific  is  adequately 
bridged  over  with  steamship  lines. 

Mission  of  the  New  Railway. 

There  is,  however,  a  preliminary  step  which  must  be  taken  before 
covering  the  Pacific  Ocean  with  our  merchant  marine  and  commerce,  and 
that  is  the  construction  of  adequate  outlets  to  the  Pacific  coast.  Herein 
lies  the  mission  of  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  Railway,  so  pro¬ 
jected  as  to  form  a  short  trunk-line  supplementing  the  railway  system 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  Texas,  and  the  whole  South,  and  connecting 
their  commercial  centres  in  a  most  advantageous  manner  with  the  Pacific. 

1  Commerce  and  Navigation  for  1877,  pp.  xli  and  xlii. 


RELATION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  AND  MEXICAN  PACIFIC  RAILWAY  TO  THE  WORLD’S  TRADE. 


ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  WORLD’S  TRADE. 


We  have,  in  previous  chapters  of  this  pamphlet,  shown  the  relation  of  the 
American  and  Mexican  Pacific  line  to  the  commercial  exchanges  between 
the  east  and  west  coasts  of  the  United  States,  the  two  great  Republics  of 
North  America  and  to  the  Pacific  and  Oriental  trade.  We  desire,  in 
conclusion,  to  briefly  show  its  relation  to  the  world’s  trade. 

As  an  Air  Line  from  Liverpool  to  Australia. 

As  will  be  observed  by  a  glance  at  the  map  at  the  head  of  this  chapter 
the  railway  is  a  central  link  in  an  almost  air  line  from  Liverpool  to 
Australia.  That  signifies  more  than  appears  at  first  thought,  for  by 
reference  to  the  trade  statistics  of  the  Pacific  nations  it  will  be  found 
that  the  annual  foreign  commerce  of  Australasia  (exports  and  imports 
combined)  is  greater  than  that  of  British  India,  more  than  double  that 
of  China,  and  more  than  seven  times  that  of  Japan. 

The  New  Course  of  Empire. 

During  the  last  few  years  the  star  of  empire  over  the  continent  has 
been  deflected  from  its  westward  course  toward  the  great  Southwest, 
the  great  Republic  of  Mexico,  so  profusely  endowed  with  natural  wealth. 

Over  the  seas  its  general  course  is  the  same,  for  it  has  recently  been 
deflected  from  the  Orient  towards  those  great  and  fertile  islands  of  the 
South  Pacific — Australia  and  New  Zealand. 

The  Transcontinental  Railway  under  consideration,  in  harmony  with 
this  idea,  is  also  advancing  through  Mexico  to  meet  at  its  western  termi¬ 
nus  steamship  lines  projected  to  tap  the  rapidly  increasing  and  enriching 
trade  of  the  South  Pacific. 


APPENDIX. 


Authorities  on  Northern  Mexico. 

Anderson,  Alex.  D. — The  Silver  Country  ;  or,  The  Great  Southwest.  A 
review  of  the  mineral  and  other  wealth,  the  attractions  and  material 
development  of  the  former  Kingdom  of  New  Spain,  comprising 
Mexico  and  the  Mexican  cessions  to  the  United  States  in  1848  and 
1853 — with  Hypsometric  map.  New  York,  1877  :  G.  P.  Putnam’s 
Sons. 

Arispe,  Don  Miguel  Ramos  de. — Memorial  on  the  Natural,  Political, 
and  Civil  State  of  the  Province  of  Coahuila,  in  the  Kingdoms  of 
Leon,  New  Santander,  and  Texas.  Translated  from  the  Spanish. 
Phila.,  1814. 

Bartlett,  J.  B. — Personal  Narrative  of  Exploration  and  Incidents  in 
Texas,  New  Mexico,  California,  Sonora,  and  Chihuahua,  connected 
with  the  U.  S.  and  Mex.  Boundary  Commission,  during  the  years 
1850-53.  2  vols.  New  York,  1854:  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  This 

work  treats  largely  of  Chihuahua  and  Sonora,  and  contains  many 
excellent  views  of  the  country. 

Box,  M.  J.— — -Adventures  and  explorations  in  New  and  Old  Mexico, 
being  the  record  of  ten  years  of  travel  and  research,  and  a  guide  to 
the  mineral  treasures  of  Durango,  Chihuahua,  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
(east  side,)  Sinaloa,  and  Sonora,  (Pacific  side,)  and  the  southern  part 
of  Arizona.  New  York,  1869 :  James  Miller.  It  describes  the  val¬ 
leys  of  all  the  rivers  which  flow  into  the  Gulf  of  California,  viz  : 
The  Sonora,  Fronteras,  Yagui,  Mayo,  Fuerte,  and  Sinaloa.  Also 
the  valleys  of  Northwestern  Durango,  and  railway  routes  across 
Northern  Mexico  to  the  Pacific. 

Chipman,  C. — Mineral  resources  of  Northern  Mexico.  New  York,  1868 : 
Baker  &  Godwin. 

Dahlgren ,  C.  B. — Historic  Mines  of  Mexico.  A  review  of  the  famous 
mines  of  that  Bepublic  for  the  past  three  centuries,  together  with 
an  account  of  various  mining  companies  and  railways.  New  York : 
1883. 


76 


77 


Froebel,  J—  Seven  Years’  Travel  in  Central  America,  Northern  Mexico, 
and  the  Far  West  of  the  United  States.  London,  1869  :  Richard 
Bentley.  A  large  portion  of  this  work  is  devoted  to  Northern 
Mexico. 

Gregg ;  Josiah. — Commerce  of  the  Prairies  ;  or,  The  Journal  of  a  Santa 
Fe  Trader  during  Eight  Expeditions  across  the  Great  Western 
Prairies,  and  a  Residence  of  Nearly  Nine  Years  in  Northern  Mexico. 
2  vols.  New  York,  1844  :  Henry  G.  Langley. 

Hamilton,  Leonidas. — The  Border  States  of  Mexico,  Sonora,  Sinaloa, 
Chihuahua  and  Durango.  1882. 

Humboldt ,  Alex,  de  {Baron.) — Political  Essay  on  New  Spain.  4  vols. 
London,  1822 :  Longman,  Hurst,  Rees,  Orme  &  Brown.  It  is  the 
leading  authority  on  the  resources  of  Mexico,  and  parts  of  it  treat 
of  the  mines,  mining  districts,  and  general  characteristics  of  North¬ 
ern  Mexico. 

Oswald,  Felix. — Summerland  Sketches.  Philadelphia,  1880 :  J.  B. 
Lippincott  &  Co. 

Owen,  A.  K. — Twelve  or  more  pamphlets  containing  his  arguments  be¬ 
fore  the  Committees  of  Congress,  a  Board  of  Army  Engineers,  &c., 
&c.,  in  advocacy  of  the  Topolobampo  Pacific  Railway  route.  They 
contain  a  great  variety  of  information  on  the  resources,  topography, 
&c.,  of  Northern  Mexico. 

Pike ,  Z.  M. — (Capt.  U.  S.  A.) — Diary  of  a  Tour  through  the  Interior 
Provinces  of  New  Spam,  in  the  year  1807,  under  the  escort  of 
Spanish  dragoons. 

Stone,  Chas.  P. — Notes  on  the  State  of  Sonora.  Washington,  1860. 

Storrs,  Augustus. — Answers  of  Augustus  Storrs,  of  Missouri,  to  cer¬ 
tain  questions  upon  the  origin,  present  state,  and  future  prospect 
of  Trade  and  intercourse  between  Missouri  and  the  Internal  Prov¬ 
inces  of  Mexico,  propounded  by  Hon.  Mr.  Benton.  Printed  by 
order  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Jan.  3,  1825.  Senate 
Doc.  No.  7,  18th  Cong.,  2d  session. 

Ward,  H.  G. — Mexico  in  1827.  Next  to  Humboldt’s  “New  Spain,” 
this  is  one  of  the  highest  authorities  on  the  mines  of  Mexico,  and 
parts  of  it  treat  of  the  mines  and  other  characteristics  of  Northern 
Mexico. 

Weidner,  Frederick  G.—  A  pamphlet  on  the  resources  of  Sinaloa. 
San  Francisco  :  1882. 


L.ofC. 


78 


Wilson,  B.  A. — Mexico  and  its  Religion,  with  incidents  of  travel  in  that 
country  during  parts  of  the  years  1851—54.  New  York,  1855  : 
Harper  &  Brothers.  The  last  chapter  and  the  appendix  are  devoted 
to  the  agriculture  and  mines  of  Northern  Mexico. 

Wislizenus,  A. — Memoir  of  a  Tour  to  Northern  Mexico  connected  with 
Col.  Doniphan’s  Expedition  in  1846  and  1847,  by  A.  AYislizenus,  M. 
D.,  with  a  scientific  appendix  and  three  maps.  Printed  by  order  of 
the  United  States  Senate.  Jan.  13,  1848.  Senate  Mis.  Doc.  No.  26, 
30th  Cong.,  1st  sess. 

Authorities  on  the  West  Coast  of  Mexico. 

Acapulco . — Chart  No.  872,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by 
Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Alarchon ,  Fernando.— \ oyage  along  the  Gulf  of  California  in  1540. 
In  Hakluyt’s  Voyages,  III,  505. 

Angeles. — Chart  No.  875,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by 
Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Browne,  J.  Boss. — Kesources  of  the  Pacific  States.  A  statistical 
and  descriptive  summary,  with  a  sketch  of  the  settlement  and  ex¬ 
ploration  of  Lower  California.  New  York,  1869 :  D.  Appleton  & 
Co.  This  contains  a  great  variety  of  information  concerning  the 
Gulf  of  California. 

Cape  San  Bucas  and  Mazatlayx  to  Bat.  26°  JV. — Chart  No.  621,  U.  S. 
Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by  Commander  Geo.  Dewey, 
U.  S.  N.  1873-75. 

Chippeua  to  Ventosa  Bay. — Chart  No.  876,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office. 
From  survey  by  Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Dewey ,  George. — Remarks  of  Commander  Geo.  Dewey,  U.  S.  N.,  on  the 
Coasts  of  Lower  California  and  Mexico.  1874  :  U.  S.  Hydrographic 
Office,  publication  56. 

Guatulco. — Chart  No.  877,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by 
Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Guay  mas  Harbor  and  Approaches. — Chart  No.  640,  U.  S.  Hydrographic 
Office.  From  the  most  recent  surveys,  verified  by  Commander  Geo. 
Dewey,  U.  S.  N.,  and  officers  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Narragansett.  1874 
and  1875. 

Gulf  of  California ,  Coasts  of,  between  parallels  26°  and  29°  20'  N. — 


79 


Chart  No.  620,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by  Com¬ 
mander  Geo.  Dewey,  U.  S.  N.  1873-75. 

Gulf  of  California,  Coasts  of,  from  Lat.  29°  15'  N.  to  the  head  of  the 
Gulf. — Chart  No.  619,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by 
Commander  Geo.  Dewey,  U.  S.  N.  1873-75. 

Imray ,  James  F.,  (F.  R.  G.  S.) — North  Pacific  Pilot,  Part  I.  The  West 
Coast  of  North  America  between  Panama  and  Queen  Charlotte 
Islands.  London,  1881 :  James  Imray  &  Son.  This  is  the  latest 
and  one  of  the  best  works  on  west  coast  of  Mexico. 

Isla  Grande  Harbor. — Chart  No.  878,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From 
survey  by  Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Mazatlan  Harbor. — Chart  No.  642,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From 
survey  by  Commander  Geo.  Dewey,  U.  S.  N.  1874. 

Mazatlan  to  Tendcatita  Bay. — Chart  No.  622,  U.  S.  Hydrographic 
Office.  From  survey  by  Commander  Geo.  Dewey,  U.  S.  N.  1873 
and  1875. 

Mexico,  the  West  Coast  of — From  the  boundary  line  between  the  United 
States  and  Mexico  to  Cape  Corrientes,  including  the  Gulf  of  Cali¬ 
fornia.  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office  publication.  Washington,  1880. 
It  is  illustrated  with  numerous  views  of  harbors,  &c. 

Morro  Ayuca. — Chart  No.  874,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  sur¬ 
vey  by  Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Parker,  Wm.  //.,  (Commander  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Co.) — Remarks 
on  the  navigation  of  the  coasts  between  San  Francisco  and  Panama. 
Washington,  1871 :  Government  Printing  Office.  This  pamphlet 
is  so  reliable  that  it  is  issued  by  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office  to  naval 
vessels. 

Petatlan. — Chart  No.  879,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by 
Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Port  Escondido. — Chart  No.  874,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From 
survey  by  Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Sacrificios. — Chart  No.  875,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey 
by  Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

San  Bias. — Chart  No.  642,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by 
Commander  Geo.  Dewey,  U.  S.  N.  1874. 

Santa  Cruz. — Chart  No.  877,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey 
by  Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 


80 


Sihuatenejo. — Chart  No.  879,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey 
by  Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Tangola. — Chart  No.  877,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by 
Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Taylor ,  A.  S. — Settlement  and  Exploration  of  Lower  California.  In  J. 
Boss  Browne’s  “Resources  of  the  Pacific  States.”  It  contains  much 
valuable  information  about  the  resources  of  the  Gulf  of  California. 

Teguepa. — Chart  No.  879,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From  survey  by 
Commander  J.  W.  Philip,  U.  S.  N.  1879. 

Topolobampo  Harbor.—  Chart  No.  714,  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office. 
From  survey  by  Commander  Geo.  Dewey,  U.  S.  N.  1874  and  1875. 

Topolobampo  Harbor. — Chart  by  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office.  From 
survey  by  Commander  W.  T.  Truxton,  U.  S.  N.  .  1869. 

Topolobampo  Harbor. — Report  on  survey  of,  by  Commander  W.  T. 
Truxton,  U.  S.  N.  1869.  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office  publication. 

TJlloa ,  Francisco. — Voyage  from  Acapulco  up  the  Western  coast  of 
Mexico  in  1539.  In  Hakluyt’s  Voyages,  III,  p.  473. 

Authorities  on  the  Currents,  Winds,  Navigation,  &c.,  of  the 
North  Pacific  Ocean. 

JJe  Kerhallet ,  Charles  Philippe. — General  examination  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  by  Capt.  Charles  Philippe  De  Kerhallet,  of  the  Imperial 
Navy,  followed  by  Nautical  Directions  for  avoiding  hurricanes. 
Translated  from  the  French  under  the  direction  of  Commander 
Chas.  Henry  Davis,  U.  S.  N.,  by  authority  of  the  author.  Wash¬ 
ington,  1869 :  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office  publication  No.  5. 

Findlay ,  Alexander  George ,  (F.  R.  G.  S.) — A  Directory  for  the  naviga¬ 
tion  of  the  North  Pacific  Ocean,  with  descriptions  of  its  coasts, 
islands,  &c.,  from  Panama  to  Behring  Strait  and  Japan ;  its  winds, 
currents,  and  passages.  London,  1870;  published  for  Richard 
Holmes  Laurie.  This  work,  containing  about  a  thousand  pages  and 
several  maps  of  currents,  winds,  &c.,  is  the  standard  authority  on 
the  North  Pacific. 

Labrosse ,  F. — The  Navigation  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  China  Seas,  &c. 
Translated  from  the  French  of  Mons.  F.  Labrosse,  by  J.  W.  Miller, 
Lieut.  U.  S.  N.  Washington,  1875 :  U.  S.  Hydrographic  Office 
publication  No.  58. 


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